The Magpies hosted North Sydney on Sunday.

They were looking to reverse a shock away loss to Cronulla that had cost them the competition lead.

They had everything to play for.

They had a team overladen with NRL players.

There were names such as Cordoba, Oake, Paulo, Smith, Uaisele.

There were honourable exceptions but collectively they had a day off; it was a 40-18 disaster.

Disaster seemed far away when half Mark O'Grady took the line on before offloading to a determined Justin Horo, who crossed in the third minute.

Taulima Tautai's conversion made it an ideal start, but that was the finish for the Magpies.

Fundamental errors gave the Bears a mountain of possession, and their class showed as they took every opportunity given.

Before Wenty could blink, it was half-time and they were behind 24-6.

A penalty goal and two more tries and Norths led 34-6 with 20 minutes left.

A late Wenty fightback through tries by Tim Mortimer and Etu Uaisele was never going to be enough.

A late Norths try mercifully meant enough to proceedings.

Best for the Magpies were forwards Brendan Oake and Josh Cordoba, and fullback Mortimer.

Ringrose Park hosts Family Fun Day this Sunday with four games of action and the NSW Cup kicking off at 3pm.

It will be the grand-final reply.