By MARK CASHMAN

They’ve tried to fly under the radar in the opening weeks of the Shute Shield but Gordon made an unmissable statement when they manhandled Warringah from the opening minutes to the very end of their 52-7 win on Saturday.

In scoring eight tries to one against last year’s grand finalists, the Highlanders showed that they will go deep into this competition and the fact that they will have a flow of stars coming back from Super Rugby at the start of September makes them even scarier.

Jack Dempsey, Charlie Abel and Joey Walton will come back from the Waratahs while Charlie’s brother Jacob, a very handy scrum half, is expected to return from the Western Force.

The key though for Gordon coach Darren Coleman is to work all this talent into a group that can work together to break the club’s recent run of outs.

That aside Gordon based their most complete performance of recent seasons on the back of a dominant scrum and an appetite for robust contact at the breakdown.