The Eagles led 8-6 at halftime against the Butchers before conceding six tries in the second to suffer their first loss of the season.

It see them sitting equal second on the ladder with Collegians heading into Saturday’s clash with league-leaders Wests at Parrish Park.

“I thought it was our mistakes that tipped us out of the game with Thirroul,” McDonald said.

“I’m confident we’ll learn our lessons from it. The boys need to step up again and, if we do that, there’s not a team in this competition we can’t compete with.

“It’ll be good to get some regular footy. The challenges get bigger every week and we’ve got Wests, Dapto and Collies in the next few weeks so it’s an exciting time and it’ll be good to get these four games in a row.”