Unavailable players and injuries led to a terrible afternoon for the Kempsey Cannonballs on Saturday.
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The Cannonballs were demolished 141-7 against the competition leaders the Hastings Valley Vikings in Port Macquarie.
Kempsey were without six starters, including four representative players; Heath Lancaster, Carl Thurgood, Kini Dauvucu and Iulio Tavete for the clash and two more players were injured inside the first 15-minutes.
The disastrous events led to the Cannonballs being unable to match the Vikings physicality.
Kempsey also relied on numerous reserve grade players to back up and play a full 80-minutes for first grade.
Stand-in coach Tyler Allan admitted it was a tough day for the Cannonballs.
"Both grades were very short and plagued with injuries the whole day," Allan said.
However, Allan claims the players remained in good spirits and fought until the end.
"Although it was a big score, the boys have high hopes and will use it as a form of motivation for the rest of the season," he said.
"Players that were impressive were William Yabsley and Tom Arndell, who never gave up and worded hard all game.
"Credit to the guys that played two full games and showed a lot of heart."
The Cannonballs will be hoping bounce back when they host the Southern Cross University Marlins this Saturday.
Kempsey's only victory this year came against the Marlins.
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