The Gundagai Tigers began their season in fine style over the weekend with a 26-14 victory over the Temora Dragons at Anzac Park.
The clash between the two Group 9 giants lived up to the billing with the game being highly competitive throughout as neither team were willing to give an inch. Eventually the class of the Tigers prevailed, more specifically the class of full-back Tyson Gorman who opened the scoring for the Tigers and was on the ball frequently for the home side.
It was revenge for the Tigers who suffered an agonisingly close 24-20 loss against the Dragons in last year’s finals.
Coach Aaron Gorrell was happy with his side’s impressive win.
“We knew it was going to be tough. We went in with no trials under our belts, a fair few new faces and a fair few who have left, so it was a fairly big change for the club as a whole,” Gorrell said.
“We got off to a really strong start scoring the first two tries which was a pleasant surprise to me, I thought we’d be carrying a bit of rust into the game but instead we began brilliantly.
“After the first 20 minutes I thought we let ourselves down a little, we made a few costly errors and let them get back into the game and even let them have the lead going into the second half.
“After a disappointing end to the first half, I didn’t know what I was going to get out of them in the second. The first set answered all my questions it was dominant and brutal, and from there I was confident we would go on to win the game.”
The Tigers overcame a short team list on a hot Sunday evening to get the job done.
“It was pretty hot out there, we only had 14 fresh players and we used another one that had played a full game in reserve grade. Using 15 blokes and having that be our first hit out in that heat was a mas-sive result for us and it just showed the toughness and the will to win of those blokes to tough out and play more minutes than they normally would,” he continued.
“I didn’t see any of it (revenge-seeking). It was more just worrying about us and getting our season off to a good start. Blokes who played that game have probably got that in the back of their minds but you go better with every game you play and when you can beat one of those top sides in round one that is always pleasing and it just gives you a gauge of where you are at for the season.
“It’s always a bit of unknown when you train for a few months with no games and each coach thinks they are going okay, it’s just good to come out and get that type of result and knowing we have got so much improvement in us and still get the two points, it’s very pleasing. The Tigers face last year’s bridesmaid Wagga Kangaroos continuing a tough start to their 2025 campaign, Aaron is confident his side can get a result and believes their tough start to the season will benefit them in the long term.
“It’s a good way of doing it really. It gives you a good gauge of where you are at and where you need to improve. If you have an off day and you do drop a game, I’d rather drop it against one of the top sides than one of the sides where you are expected to win.
“It’s good and it gets your season off to a positive start if you can win the majority of those games.”
Kick-off will be at 2:35 pm Sunday week at Anzac Park.
Tries. Gundagai (26), Tyron Gorman, Eparama Navuki, James Morgan, Wilson Hamblin and Jack Lyons def Temora Dragons (14), Jock Ward, Will McDermott and Nick Bett. Conversions. Gundagai Tyron Gorman 2/5, 1/1 penalty kick. Temora Jared McKinnon 1/3. Group 9 Draw. April 26th – April 27th. Young Cherrypickers vs Albury Thunder. Temora Dragons vs South City Bulls. Junee Diesels vs Wagga Brothers. Cootamundra Bulldogs vs Tumut Blues.
Group 9 Ladder
1. Young Cherrypickers, 48, 2pts
2. Wagga Kangaroos, 30, 2pts
3. Gundagai Tigers, 12, 2pts
4. South City Bulls 4, 2pts
5. Tumut Blues, 0, 1pts
6. Albury Thunder, 0, 1pts
7. Junee Diesels, -4, 0pts
8. Temora Dragons, -12, 0pts
9. Cootamundra Bulldogs, -30, 0pts.
10. Wagga Brothers, -48, 0pts
Tigerettes Endure Tough Outing vs Dragons
The Gundagai Tigerettes were on the wrong end of a thrashing on Sunday, going down 38-0 to the Temora Dragons. It was always going to be a tough game for the Tigerettes against the reigning premiers but the ladies showed plenty of fight, managing to half last season’s deficit.
The ladies will be hoping to bounce back next week against a Wagga Kangaroos side coming off the back of a 62-0 thrashing at the hands of the Cootamundra Bullettes.
Ladies coach Chris Rainbow thought the girls tried their hearts out and was pleased with their efforts.
“Temora’s league tag team are the bench-mark. Between Temora and Brothers, they are the teams you adjust yourself to or work yourself towards. They are both your bench-mark players and they have been good for a few seasons.
“I took a lot of positives out of it. Our defence was good to start, we had some really good patches and then we got a little bit fatigued and a little bit lost and then we had a few interchanges. I was very pleased with their effort.
“I was very impressed with their teamwork, they all stuck together. In the past, we had bad habits of once teams scored a few tries we’d drop our heads, but the girls competed right through to the final whistle, so I took that as a positive.
“It was definitely a bit of fatigue and a lot of players out of position doesn’t help but being round one we still haven’t hit our straps where everyone is going to play,” Rainbow believes squad rotation may have hurt the girls in the short term, but will help them in the long term. “It was going to be tough games so I used that game to try different people in different spots, so a bit of mismatch and that was probably my fault as such, but it is round one and you take those opportunities to have a look at different players and different spots because we didn’t have a trial,” he continued.
“Cassie and Stacey Bower were brilliant. They made some good metres. Amille held strong between Monique and Danielle and a few of the other girls there definitely held the middle strong. A lot of their tries were scored down the edges, which was very pleasing.
“We will be working for a few wins this year.”
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