It’s certainly not beyond Aaron McDonald’s side if their 26-6 win over Helensburgh on Saturday was anything to go by.

In what was undoubtedly the club’s best performance since re-entering the top grade in 2016, the Eagles ran in three tries to lead 16-0 at the break.

They added two more in the second half with Tigers halfback Corey Willis’ 78^th minute four-pointer the only blemish on their sheet.

It made it back to back wins for the first time during McDonald’s tenure and sees them leading the competition after three rounds following a round one win over Corrimal and a bye last week.

There are no doubt tougher tests to come but McDonald said Saturday’s win was the certainly the Eagles most complete performance in his time at the helm. 

“It was a 78-minute performance, I was a bit dirty on [conceding] the try at the end,” McDonald said.

“It’s something we’ve talked about, not slackening off. Unfortunately it happened there but, certainly the boys were good today.

“It’s just attitude, that’s the difference this year. We’re still not getting the attack quite right but the defensive attitude this year and that willingness to take that extra step has made a massive difference to the side.

“We’ve got a bit of depth across the park now which is helping us out. We’re building nicely and that’s all we can do at this point in time.

“We’ve got some split rounds to come and, once we get into the season, in three for four weeks time, we’ll see where we’re really at.”

Halves pairing Ben White and Ali Allouche had a hand in all five of the Eagles tries while Matt Waugh had a double. The Tigers looked flat from the outset and will have plenty of time to stew on the loss, with a bye as part of a split round four meaning they won’t get a chance to atone for three weeks.

Eagles centre Matt Boss grabbed his side’s first four-pointer after just five minutes off a pinpoint long-ball from Allouche to take a 4-0 lead.

Inia Liufau had his side second when he reeled in a clever kick from White who also nailed the sideline conversion for a 10-0 lead.

Waugh’s try on the stroke of halftime saw the lead swell to 16 and Allouche’s try seven minutes after the resumption effectively put the game to bed.

Waugh grabbed his second with 18 minutes to play with Willis’s effort in the shadows of fulltime rounding out the scoring.

Elsewhere, Wests ran in nine first-half tries to lead 50-0 at the break against Corrimal at Parrish Park. The Cougars fought back in the second half, going down 66-14.