The Lions had some new faces but were missing game one props John Dobson (suspended) and Paul Downes (broken hand) and knew the Jets were going to be tough and slick.

The Lions started strongly but the Jets backline had more speed than they knew what to do with and crossed to open the scoring from the deep.

The Jets doubled their lead soon after when their five eighth, who was clearly offside, took an intercept and ran the length to take a 12-0 lead.

The Lions struck back through Jeff Whittington, who ran onto a short ball and touched down next to the posts. Mark Williams missed the conversion and the Lions trailed 12-4.

With two minutes to go in the half, Narellan put a up a bomb which saw the Jets touchdown and stretch the lead to 16-4 at the break.

Mittagong’s players knew they had to score first in the second half and did that with a great try to Lionheart Michael Hadju. Williams converted to get the Lions back in the match 16-10.

From there, however, the Jets piled on the pressure and the Lions poor fitness started to tell.

Narellan proceeded to wrack up a big scoreline over the final 20 minutes.

"I knew we [Mittagong] could compete for part of the match, in this case 50 minutes, but in the last 30 we lacked structure as fitness and effort waned," coach Andy Stephan said after the heavy defeat.

Rob Carter was a standout for the Lions, along with Jeff Whittington who was fantastic

Michael Hadju and Alan Rebbeck were tireless and led by example for the entire match with super defence and strong running.

The Lions return to Mittagong sports ground this week for a Friday night battle royale against Camden.

A big crowd is expected and the club urges all supporters to get long and see the Lions withbig John Dobson back on board and a couple of other surprises in store for the Rams.

The Rams lost against the Dragons last weekend and the Lions are confident they can continue Camden’s Highlands misery.