The Glen Innes Magpies A-grade team slumped to their first loss of the Group 19 season.
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The Magpies took on an exuberant Narwan outfit in Armidale on Sunday and were downed convincingly 38-10.
"We just weren't up to it," Glen Innes player-coach Nick Say said.
"Got to give credit to Narwan, they were just more enthused in every part of the game than we were."
The Magpies' 10 points came in the first-half and were only behind 14-10 at the break.
They failed to fire in the second stanza as Narwan ran away with the win.
"We just lost a bit of composure when we were in their 20, we panicked a bit," Say said.
"You just can't go in there and expect to score points all the time.
"It not a bad thing to have a loss at this time of year, it might give us a kick the bum we need."
For yet another week, the Magpies failed to fill a full side of 17 players.
Say is disappointed with the lack of commitment.
"It is two weeks-in-a-row where we only had 15 players and you just can't do that week-in, week-out," he said.
"It just gets the better of you really.
"You think you have got 17 players and you get there on Sunday and only 15 show up.
"That is the frustrating part about it, not disappointed with the loss, it is not the end of the world but it is just frustrating we can't get 17 blokes to travel.
"We have different blokes coming in week-in, week-out, I don't think we have had the same side two weeks in-a-row, not even close to having the same side."
The Magpies host Armidale Rams this Saturday and Say is hoping his side can put in a better effort.
"We have just got to get to training all week and work on a few things," he said.
"And come out against Armidale and put it all back into place, just forget about last weekend.
"We haven't lost four or five in-a-row, we don't have to hit the panic button.
"We just have to come out this weekend and come out firing."