The Kurri Kurri Bulldogs fought to the end, but were unable to match a more experienced line up from The Entrance going down 30-8 at Kurri Kurri Sportsground on Saturday.
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Bulldogs coach Aaron Watts said the squad he had put together for the start of the season had been decimated by injuries and they had been forced to blood young players in what was now a rebuild for the club.
Watts said with youth and inexperience came errors and lack of concentration for an entire 80 minutes and the Tigers had made them pay for a 10 minute lapse either side of half-time.
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"At the start of the year it wasn't a rebuild, but with the injuries we've had it's a rebuild now. The guys who are in are getting experience and will better for it next year," he said.
"The effort's there, but we just need the effort and execution to all come at once."
The Bulldogs started the best with wing Lachlan Hill crossing for a try when he dived onto a well placed kick by Mitch Cullen to score after five minutes.
The Bulldogs continued to push The Entrance defence who were taking a full advantage of a slow play the ball allowed by the referee to give themselves time to blunt Kurri's momentum.
Kurri were able to deal with everything The Entrance was throwing at them until the 30th minute the Tigers broke through and followed it up on their next set with back-to-back tries.
At 12-4, the Bulldogs were in the game at the break but needed to score first.
Unfortunately, the Tigers were able to find space on the Bulldogs left-edge defence and broke the line to run into a score from 40 metres, just five minutes after the break.
Four minutes after they were in again through a chip kick and clever tap to open up the Bulldogs defence for a 24-4 lead.
The Bulldogs continued to press but an intercept try at the 60 minute mark ended any chance of a comeback.
The Bulldogs scored a late try to Jack Tamburrini to go down 30-8.
Kurri are set to host South Newcastle on Saturday, but Watts said given the latest rain it was unlikely that they will be able to play.
"I've got no idea how they are going to get all the catch-up games in place, especially if this week is called off," he said.
"We've already got one catch-up game and I know a couple of other clubs have two catch-up games. I'm not sure how they will get the games in.
"They want to play midweek games, but you've got to also protect your players. It's all very well to say that we will play on Tuesday night, but if you are playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday four games in 14 days it's not really fair on the players."
