The Dungog Warriors suffered their first loss at home this season with the All Age team going down 26-16 to Hinton.
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No such trouble for the Ladies League Tag team who continued on their winning way beating Shortland 16-14.
The LLT game had the Warriors taking on Shortland who had drawn with Dungog earlier in the season and things didn't start well for the locals with Shortland scoring in the first minute of play.
The Shortland defence was making it tough for Dungog with breaks hard to come by, but Amelia Morris found some space and went in for a converted try for the Warriors.
Beth Marshall then showed great pace to race 50 metres to score to extend Dungog's lead which they took to the sheds at halftime.
Both sides found themselves down a player for the start of the second half after a disagreement in the play the ball had a player from each side in the sinbin.
Both teams were defending well but Shortland finally found a gap to score under the posts to narrow the deficit to two.
The game was evenly poised but Lilly Hooke put the Warriors in the box seat with a brilliant individual try which started 70 metres out and finished under the posts after evading several Shortland defenders in a fantastic display of pace and evasion.
Lilly Hooke put the Warriors in the box seat with a brilliant individual try which started 70 metres out.
A late try to the visitors set up an exciting finish but the Warriors prevailed to remain unbeaten after after rounds.
Saturday's game was a good test for Dungog with Shortland and Stroud looking like the only two sides standing between the Warriors and a premiership.
Dungog 16 A Morris, B Marshall, L Hooke tries A Morris, L Hooke goals
Shortland 14 , 3 tries 2 goals
Player of the match and players' player Lilly Hooke
Hinton leapfrog Dungog
The Dungog All Age team took to the field keen to make up for their first round loss to Hinton.
Both sets of forwards were keen to test each other early on with several heavy exchanges.
The Warriors suffered a setback early losing their fullback to the sinbin for 10 minutes but their defence held out several attacking raids by the Hornets.
The visitors eventually managed to cross in the corner for the first try of the game at the 15 minute mark.
The Dungog response was swift with Aaron Cottom diving over in the corner for a converted try.
The Warriors looked to be gaining the upper hand and when Matt Hinton offloaded for Luke Rits to score Dungog found themselves heading to the half-time break with a 10-4 lead.
Not sure what the halftime speech was but it was a completely different team that took the field for the second stanza with the Hornets running in two converted tries inside the first 10 minutes.
Hinton then had a player sinbinned but the Warriors failed to capitalise although having several sets up the opposition's end.
The Hornets centre was causing all sorts of problems for the Dungog defence and another try put their lead out to 10.
When they crossed from the next set of six to lead 26-10 the Warriors looked shell-shocked but to their credit they dug in and slowly tried to cut back the deficit but it proved to be a bridge to far.
Dungog did get to score the last points when Luke Rits went over for his second try.
Hinton's win saw them leapfrog the Warriors on the competition ladder with Dungog now third a point in front of Stroud and Maitland United
Both teams head in different directions this weekend with the All Age taking on Maitland United on Saturday at Coronation Oval at 3pm while the Ladies League Tag head over the hill to take on Stroud in a top of the table clash on Sunday at 2pm
