The Hawks trounced the Bulls in all three grades during the weekend’s matches at Jack Neal Oval, the first graders now sitting six points ahead of third placed Wingham and six behind leaders Port City as finals footy fast approaches.

The first graders were out of the blocks early with back rower Daniel Stallworthy running hard off Troy Hilder’s shoulder to post first points next to the sticks.

Benson converted and the Hawks were 6-nil up.

Two sets later the Hawks created an overlap with Josh Neave cutting down the right flank before being gathered in.

Hilder and Hammond combined brilliantly, hitting Neave with a cut-out pass to send him over in the right corner.

Benson converted for a 12-nil lead.

The Bulls recorded their first points in the 18th minute when the Hawks defence went to sleep and the Taree half-back strode straight down the centre of the park to score under the posts.

Munro converted and the score was Hawks 12-6.

Hilder put up a bomb for Benson to contest in the 30th minute, Benson managing to tackle a Bulls player in-goal to force a drop-out restart.

A Bulls player mouthed off the referee and a penalty was given straight in front.

From the tap the Hawks went wide with Matthew Finlayson scoring out wide to the left for an unconverted try. Hawks 16-6.

From the restart of play, Bulls forward Corey Shields again gave the referee some lip and was given a 10 minute rest in the sin bin. This spurred the Hawks.

Hilder drove play down to the Taree 30m line with a thundering kick for touch and the ball was shifted out to the left side where Des Donnelly scored.

Benson converted for a 22-6 lead.

The 12-man Bulls gave the Hawks a double scare just before half-time, Jay Hogan scoring out wide from a backline shift, followed by a try to Pat Hogan to make the score 22-16 at the break.