Henry dominated the second 40 minutes in what was at times a heated affair. The Tigers finished with 12 players on the park after five-eighth Danny Price was sent off by referee 13 minutes into the second half. Price and Taree City coach Matt Everitt became involved in a dispute at at one stage looked set to escalate before the players were parted. Referee Jason Allan sent Price off for the game and then gave Everitt a 10 minute stay in the sin bin. At the time both sides were down a player, with Taree City’s Broden Hamilton and Wingham’s Joel Kliendienst also serving time in the bin.

Wingham had a major disruption before the kickoff when captain-coach Danny Russell succumbed to a calf muscle injury sustained earlier in the week. Russell had to switch Nick Beacham from second row to halfback and call Brandon Clarke into the starting 13. Earlier Tyler Atkins had been shifted from the second row to centre to replace Joel Wilson, with Beau Collins earning a spot in the run-on team.

Despite this Wingham trotted off to the sheds at halftime leading 10-8. However, the Tigers made a mess of the kickoff to start the second half and from there Taree City dominated. Henry ran the show, either making darting runs or sending ball carriers through gaps. He scored a smart individual try under the posts to give the Bulls the lead and it was from there that Hamilton and Kliendienst were given time. Bruwyn Tisdell added the extras. Henry then instigated a raid on the short side late in the tackle count that saw centre Logan Wallis clear and he sent to ball back to Henry to dash over. The conversion by Tisdell gave Taree a dozen points in six minutes and a 20-10 lead.

Wingham managed to work play into the Taree half for one of the few occasions in the second stanza soon after Price and Everitt were dismissed and hooker Mitch Collins sent a short pass for Michael Richards to crash over. Michael Bailey’s goal reduced the margin to four with 24 on the clock.

However, unlike the first half the Bulls were completing their sets while Wingham’s attack lacked direction and punch, understandably with their fulcrum, Russell, watching from the sideline. A superb cutout pass from Henry was well gathered in by centre Dean Mills to scamper over for the Bulls and while the conversion was astray, the Bulls had secured the three competition points. Just before fulltime Everitt worked his way over for a converted try.

Hamilton was a strong performer for the Bulls and he made an immediate difference to the attack when introduced from the bench in the first half. Taree’s forwards won a points decision over the Tigers, with Will Clarke getting through plenty of work. Tisell didn’t do a lot wrong on the wing

Despite playing out of position Beacham was still Wingham’s most dangerous player in attack while Matt Bridge at fullback was lively. 

First half tries were scored by Fletcher Lewis and Beacham for Wingham while Tisdell managed two for the Bulls. Bailey converted Beacham’s try.

Taree City 30 (B Tisdell 2, M Henry 2, D Mills, M Everitt tries B Tisdell 5 goals) defeated Wingham 16 (F Lewis, N Beacham, M Richards tries, M Bailey 2 goals).

WINGHAM captain-coach Danny Russell refused to discuss on-field matters after the clash against Taree City.

If he was upset with any aspects of the encounter, he wasn’t saying.

“I’m hoping next week,’’ he answered when asked when he might be back from a calf muscle injury that forced him to withdraw from the match.

“It depends on the injury.’’

Russell revealed that veteran playmaker Trent Green was a possible replacement. Green retired after Wingham’s campaign ended last season.

“Work commitments prevented him today,’’ Russell explained.

“He will be playing, but it will be a couple weeks yet.’’

Taree City coach Matt Everitt said it was a morale boosting win.

“And a good warm up for next week when we play Port City,’’ he added.

“Wingham went into today in second spot and they were a good challenge. The boys needed to play hard and dig in, which they did.’’

Everitt agreed Taree’s completion rated improved markedly in the second half.

“It’s still not as good as I’d like, but they were certainly better. It’s something we’ve been working on and we’ll continue to work on.’’

He praised Henry’s second half effort.

“Mick kept his head today and he’s pushing the boys around. With the captaincy role I think he’s doing a really good job. He's shown how much of a leader he can be for the club and the team.

"That’s what I want to see from my captain. We spoke about that with the committee at the start of the year, with me being coach and Mick the captain. He’s doing the club and himself proud.’’

He agreed the Broden Hamilton made a big difference to the Taree attack that was meandering early in the match.

“Broden plays really direct. He’s a nuggerty bloke and he runs hard.’’