Lithgow outclassed Wagga, running away with a 12 point lead in the first quarter on Saturday.

“They could have kicked it and it would have gone in, that’s how well they were shooting,” Wagga coach Allan Mullins said.

“They were shooting a metre or two outside the circle and scoring, it was just incredible.”

Wagga also had phases of pure genius, such as the start of the third quarter.

“To reel off 10 points in the first two minutes, we were on fire, then we went back in our shell,” Mullins said.

“We got into a position where we knew we had to win by nine to finish second, and when we realised we weren’t going to do that we lost our drive.”

True to his word, NBL Hall of Famer, Cal Bruton, watched on supporting the league’s top-scorer Gage Daye, who also top-scored on Saturday with 38 points.

“To have a Hall of Famer in the building to watch the game, to be supporting us, was very inspiring,” Mullins said.

Unlike Pool A leaders Canberra (first) and Lithgow (second), who progress straight through to the qualifying finals in a fortnight, Wagga, third in Pool A, will face their arch rivals in the men’s division one Waratah League, Sutherland, in the elimination final this Saturday.

“That’s what happens when you finish third, you don’t get a week off,” Mullins said.

“But we don’t need a week off.”

Sutherland beat Wagga in last year’s grand final in Sutherland, and the local men are desperate to settle the grudge at Bolton Park.

The good news after the loss, according to Mullins, is there’s room to improve.

The Wagga squad’s heading in the right direction, having shown promising signs in a training session on Sunday.

“We had a very good hit-out, we’re looking very sharp,” Mullins said.

“I don’t think that they (Lithgow) could have played any better. I think we’re still tracking at 80 per cent. The mistakes we made are all fixable.”