A massive crowd came to Stingers Oval and the vast majority there expected to see a Normanton grand final victory or at the very least a competitive performance by a team usually so hard to beat on home soil.

Instead the minor premiers were never in the hunt.

The Gulflander station is next door to Stingers Oval but it was Townies who came out like a steam train.

They landed a try with the very first play with winger Josh Wagner showing a clean pair of heels and opening the scoring within a minute.

Normanton’s defence crumbled again in the next set with Nick Cooke crashing over.

It was 10-0 after just three minutes and Normanton had yet to use the ball.

Normanton steadied but just as it seemed they were putting their big game nerves behind them Town scored again through Rowan Schulz to go 14-0 up on 17 minutes.

It was a bad start but not the end of the world if only the Stingers could get a toehold in the game.

But it was Townies that always looked more likely to score again and they did just that on 29 minute with Simon Duke getting on the action and a conversion making it 22-0.

On the next set it it was number Allan Helsinger’s turn to score and with a conversion it 28-0 and Normanton’s cause looking hopeless.

Normanton conceded two more tries in the dying minutes of the half as heads visibly dropped across the field.

The raucous roar that greeted them on to the field was replaced by dumb disbelief at a 40-0 half time.

The second half was a procession for Town and a damage limitation exercise for the hosts.

They excited their fans with a couple of bold runs but a combination of stout defence and poor hands meant they really looked likely to breach the Town line.

Instead Town piled on the misery for the home fans with four more tries, winning 60-0. Nick Cooke with two tries was named man of the match.

Earlier Normanton ladies won an entertaining game 22-0 v Mornington Island ladies.