The Gundagai Tigers were victors once again over the weekend with a close 24-16 win over the Albury Thunder on Sunday in Albury. Gundagai have historically struggled at Greenfield Park, so walking away with the two points will more than appease Tigers’ faithful. Coach Aaron Gorrell said his side did well to overcome adversity to claim the two points.
“We probably weren’t at our best, but it is always good to get the two points when you are a little bit off. It’s always tough to go down there. It’s a tough away trip, but we got the two points and we’ll take it,” Gorrell said.
“They are always tough. They are pretty physical. A lot of things seem to go against us when we play down there.
“We created a lot of opportunities, but bombed a fair few tries and threw a few final passes that weren’t good enough. When we can learn to take the tackle consistently and play to the next player, we will be a lot better team.
“I think Will Herring was great in the halves as usual. He’s been great the last few weeks. Derek (Hay) was good in the halves as well. Joel Field was strong through the middle. “Our whole pack was pretty good. Hayden Ashcroft and Pat Birch were dynamite.
“We had a few blokes who probably weren’t their best games, but we are not going to be perfect every week.
“At the start of the year, if you had said to me we will take three from five, against, apart from us, the top five teams in the comp on the table at the moment, you’d take it.
“We struck four tries off against Kangaroos, only losing on conversions, and we got beaten in the last couple of minutes against Tumut, so we are not far off. We know we need to keep improving, and I’m sure we have plenty of improvement left in us.
“I’m happy with where we are. We just have to make sure with the next 12 games that we keep improving and we do a job on those that are beneath us on the table.
“It’s no good performing well against the top sides and then dropping some of the games that you are expected to win.
“We are not getting carried away with ourselves, we will keep working hard and keep improving and hopefully keep moving forward. We just have to worry about ourselves and make sure we get our backyard in place.”
The Tigers will be back at Anzac Park this weekend, hosting the Group 9 returning Cootamundra Bulldogs coming off their first win this season against the Wagga Brothers. Gorrell anticipates a gritty afternoon.
“They are tough, they are physical, and we will have to do a good job on their middles; they are big, and they will come at us. We need to do a good job on them there. Sides like that, you’ve got to make sure you compete high and have a good kick chase, and if we can do that and not gift them good field position, I’m comfortable we’ll win. If we gift them field position and let them start with possession in our half after a win, they are going to be coming in confident, so we won’t be taking them lightly at all,” he continued.
“I’ve got a good group of older, experienced players in there too, mixed in with some younger, inexperienced ones, and they do a good job of keeping everyone in check and making sure everyone is working and keeping on their toes.
“I don’t think that is going to be a problem for us. We just need to make sure we keep working, and we need to make sure we concentrate on our own game and not worry too much about the outside noise.
“James Morgan played his first game in three weeks, and he was good and got through eighty minutes and will be better for the run, and we should have all starting in the next week or so to play against Coota or Brothers, and that will be a massive boost for our club.”
Elsewhere in Group 9 the Young Cherrypickers channeled their inner Lane Frost, as they handily took care of the South City Bulls, Cootamundra scored a monumental maiden victory vs the Wagga Brothers, Tumut were too classy for Junee and in the match of the round, the Wagga Kangaroos continued their undefeated start to the season, with a close win against the Temora Dragons.
Group 9 Ladder.
1 Wagga Kangaroos, 10pts, 122.
2 Tumut Blues, 9pts, 34.
3 Young Cherrypickers, 8pts, 128.
4 Temora Dragons, 6pts, 106.
5 Gundagai Tigers, 6pts, 18.
6 Albury Thunder, 5pts, 50.
7 South City Bulls, 2pts, -44.
8 Junee Diesels, 2pts, -82.
9 Cootamundra Bulldogs, 2pts, -82.
10 Wagga Brothers, 0pts, -246.
Group 9 Draw Saturday, May 24 – Sunday, May 25.
South City Bulls vs Albury Thunder.
Junee Diesels vs Young Cherrypickers.
Gundagai Tigers vs Cootamundra Bulldogs
Sunday 2:35 pm at Anzac Park.
Wagga Kangaroos vs Wagga Brothers.
Tumut Blues vs Temora Dragons.
-Tully Potts
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