Tallon Smith

They may not be doing it easy, but the Gundagai Tigers continued their winning ways with an 18-16 win over the Junee Diesels at Laurie Daley Oval on Saturday.

Two tries from kicks either side of half time gave the Tigers an 18-6 lead early in the second half, only for the Diesels to score twice and set up a nerve-wracking finish Gundagai held on to ensure its only defeat in 2026 remains the round one loss to the same opponent.

Gundagai coach Hayden Ashcroft said he was pleased that his side was able to bank a seventh win of the season despite being out of form in recent weeks.

“We’re not playing our best footy at the moment, but we are still finding a way to win, and that is what good sides do,” he said.

“We should take some confidence out of the win at Junee, they are really thereabouts too, they are a really big side, big through the middle, so [it was] pleasing to take the two [points].

“We are in a bit of a rut, but I think we can turn things around at the right time leading into finals.”

It was Junee which opened the scoring in the seventh minute through a scoot from dummy half Quaider Kea, only for the Tigers to hit back through winger Meli Drau, who pivoted on the spot to beat the Diesels defence and lock the game up at 6-all after Corey Wilson’s touchline conversion.

Neither side troubled the scorers again until a minute before the break, when Derek Hay dabbled a delicate grubber for halves partner Will Herring to score, before Herring turned provider on the other side of the break with a rolling kick of his own producing a try to Jack Elphick millimetres inside the dead ball line for a 12-point lead.

The Diesels reduced the margin to six seven minutes later when a Connor Garrety bomb was left to bounce, allowing Cooper Wright to take the ball and race in to score.

Tevita Toloi then crossed out wide to give Junee a chance to level the scores, but the kick from Stu Dunbar sailed wide, setting up a tense final 11 minutes where the Tigers clung on to a two-point lead to secure the win.

Although he declared the Tigers are still a long way from where they need to be as the finals approach, Ashcroft said he was impressed by his side’s defensive resolve in turning the Diesels away on a number of occasions.

“I think it was a pretty gutsy effort from us defensively, we are certainly far from our best still,” he said.

“They put us under a lot of pressure, a few costly mistakes on our end out the back, [which put us under] unnecessary pressure.

“Fortunately we were good enough to turn them away a number of times on the line.

“We knew they were going to be a hard beat at Junee, it was a cold, miserable day.

“[I was] pretty satisfied to come away with the two [points].”

In terms of the run home, Gundagai faces a mixed bag of current bottom and top five opponents, with clashes against the bottom three sides in Tumut, Albury and Brothers followed by showdowns against fellow finals contenders Southcity, Young and Tumut to round out the regular season.

With timing and form being key to making a deep run into the finals, Ashcroft said he believes the Tigers will fix the areas in their game needing improvement as the playoffs approach.

“I’d like to think we can turn things around towards the back end of the season and just prepare come finals and hopefully put ourselves in good stead,” he said.

“Like everyone we have picked up a few injuries, a few team changes and positional changes that sometimes just causes enough for you to just find your way out of form, but I’m certainly not concerned with that.

“We were playing some really good football after losing to Junee [in] round one.

“We really responded well and found some good form, and we have just found ourselves in a little bit of a rut at the moment.”

Looking at other results from round 10 of Group 9, a clutch late conversion from Jake McGovern sealed a 20-18 victory for Temora over Cootamundra at Les Boyd Oval and Tumut outlasted Brothers 30-24 at Twickenham on Sunday, while Young powered past Southcity 43-10 at Harris Park and Albury snapped a five-game losing streak with a 20-16 win over Wagga Kangaroos in the other Saturday fixtures.