For most, a 12 point win over your cross-city rivals would be cause to celebrate, but Mick Wallace isn't most coaches.
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Emus got the 17-5 win over Orange City in the Blowes Clothing Cup Colts competition on Saturday, but Wallace said the margin could have and should have been much larger.
"It was disappointing for the level that we can play at. We've got to come with a better attitude towards footy, training and execution. That's a poor performance by us," he said.
"Over the last couple of years, we've really made an emphasis of how we start, grinding into games, taking opportunities, and we didn't do that."
Sean Donato got the scoring underway for Emus at Endeavour Oval, when he barged over from close range for the game's first try.
The home side soon scored another try to extend their lead, before the Lions hit back with a five-pointer of their own.
The visitors' defence couldn't hold on until the half though, as Emus ran in another score to go into the break 17-5 ahead.
While points were put on the board, a telling tale of the first half was the amount of dropped balls and penalties conceded by both sides, something not missed by Wallace.
"We train for these conditions and little tip-on plays and overriding numbers and things like that," he said.
"We're not recognising that at the moment, we're purely playing footy. I think the local derby may have got in our head. They've given us a touch up in the past, so whether that was part of it I don't know, but we were lacklustre."
The second half saw more of the same, with each side unable to string many passes together. In the end, the game would finish 17-5, with neither team able to add to their halftime score.
"You give a side like City a sniff in a local derby and they're going to keep coming. That's what happens in local derbies, the team who isn't expected to do as well lifts, and we probably dropped a little bit," Wallace added.
"They defended much better than we did and we bombed eight tries. Our edges are quite quick and we didn't get them enough ball. We should have put 40 on them."
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