The win comes at a critical time for the Blacks, after the previous three weeks were ones to forget, with performances well below their normal standards this season.

Griffith coach Ashley Gunn asked for more desire in his side’s performance, and his team responded to his call, as the Blacks out performed the Phantoms across the park.

“Overall I think it was a better performance, we still made some blues, where we dropped the ball, but overall when your playing a weaker side it’s hard to judge where your really at,” Gunn said.

“They have got a few blokes that like to scrap, especially their front row, but a couple of times we were able to get nice clean ball.”

The contest at the breakdown has been of particular concern in recent weeks for the Blacks’ coaching staff, but Gunn said he was happy with the way his side outplayed the cagy Leeton pack.

However, Gunn said some timing issues at the lineout would hopefully be addressed with the core of the side training together in the run to the finals.

“The lineout was a bit up and down I thought, I think it was mainly a timing issue, but there were a couple of blokes that haven’t played for a couple of weeks,” he said.

“The guys were saying they (Leeton) were reading it (the lineout calls) but they still have to be that fraction of a second faster.”

A worry for Griffith was the issuing of two yellow cards for fighting, something the Blacks can ill-afford to do against the better sides when the finals roll around.

Gunn promised to come down hard on ill discipline towards other players, saying that any such acts in the finals could prove to be fatal for Griffith’s premiership hopes.

“Our discipline towards the ref was pretty good, but we just got caught up in the niggly stuff,” he said.

Despite the games scrappy beginnings the gulf in class was evident from the kick off, with a cricket score always on the cards.