Port City even handed Wauchope a six-point head start before they had touched the ball.

In the end it didn’t matter as the Breakers continued their winning ways following a comfortable 36-18 victory over the Blues on Sunday.

The 18-point win booked their ticket to Group 3’s biggest dance of all, but coach Dan Kemp is still searching for a perfect performance.

His team still have “heaps” of improvement left in them.

“Truckloads,” he said.

“Every set we dropped the ball we can improve on. Every set we gave away a penalty we can improve on. There’s miles to improve on.”

Port City now have a week off as they await the winner of the Blues-Port Sharks fixture next Sunday.

It means yet another week off, but the coach wasn’t concerned – they’ve almost become used to having a break at this time of year.

When they run out on August 26, the defending premiers will have played two games in a month, including a 74-0 hammering of Taree City in the final round.

“We have this conversation every year,” Kemp said.

“We’ll look at the positives, we get a breather. Some of us are getting old, it’s good to have a week off.”

Second-rower Jamie Tracey crossed for the Blues inside the first two minutes to give his side the perfect start.

From there, Port City got into the grind.

“It probably wakes you up a little bit, doesn’t it,” Kemp said.

“We knew they’d keep coming because that’s how they do it That’s how they’ve done it for 100 years.”

The Breakers then clicked into gear after the slow start, scoring four tries in 17 minutes to turn that early six-point deficit into an eight-point lead at the break.

“The second 30 minutes of that first half was as good as we can do it,” Kemp said.

“That was as good as it gets done around here. It was really good footy.”

They then cruised through the second half with their forwards rolling through the middle. They were far too powerful.

Wauchope coach Anthony Boyd lamented a disappointing attitude before he stated they were simply outclassed.

They were gallant and kept fighting.

“It’s disappointing;” he said.

“They wanted it a lot more than us, they ran harder, tackled harder, it’s a very simple game sometimes and that’s what it came down to.

“They were running at 100 miles an hour and were fighting in the play-the-ball and they’re big bodies.”

The Blues coach said they started well, but weren’t consistent enough for the entire match.

“We got off to a good start which is always nice, but it’s an 80-minute game,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if you start good for five mins or 10 mins you’ve got to play consistent footy for 80 minutes.”

Earlier, Port Macquarie Sharks progressed to the reserve grade grand final following a thrilling 22-16 extra-time win over Port City.