The resturned Sea Eagles Rugby League Club lost respective fixtures to Eden in league-tag 40-14 and the Merimbula-Pambula Bulldogs reserves 50-14.

Sea Eagles president Peter Finucane said the scoreline didn’t do the game justice, saying  “It was a tougher game than what the results indicated”.

The Sea Eagles lost centre David Dixon to an early injury and the Bulldogs took advantage with Finucane saying the hosts “picked us apart out wide” with Luke Rixon running in a five-count on the fringe. 

However, Finucane said he was pleased with the endeavour of the whole team and commended the effort to get back into play. 

“It’s been a pretty disjointed preparation for us with a few ups and downs, but we’re back and we’re away,” he said. 

“We weren’t too disappointed with the result and there were good points too.

“Our forwards went pretty well and some of our young guys stood up well and had a dig.”

The club also heaped praise on the new Phoenixes league-tag outfit, who were thrilled to post a handful of tries against the experienced Eden contingent on Saturday afternoon. 

“They were really pleased with the result, the attack was quite good and the main thing to build on is a bit of defensive work so they can keep building.”

The Sea Eagles will return in round two with a home draw planned. “Please come down and support us, we’d love to get a huge crowd with footy back in Tathra.”