The Goulburn Dirty Reds finished their pre-season preparation with a nail-biting 17-14 win against neighbours the Taralga Tigers at Poidevin Oval on Saturday.
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Playing in different competitions, matches between the sides are infrequent and both sides played the game like it mattered and wasn’t just a trial match.
The Reds started the better with an early try to Matt Spratley in his first game back after a brief stint at Gungahlin, but the lead was to be short-lived.
Taralga returned serve with a try to Sam Conlon, followed by another from Tom Croker, both converted to hold a 14-5 lead at half-time.
There was no shortage of feeling in the match and even though the refs/touchies allowed a bit of leeway for a trial, a player from each side was shown the yellow card in the second session.
After starting well, the Reds also finished well with tries to Ben Todkill and Jordan Wilcox. Neither was converted and Goulburn held nervously on to a three point lead throughout the final minutes for the eventual win.
After a season where they struggled for numbers, Goulburn had a healthy bench and looks to have improved player numbers from 2017.
The 2018 season officially starts for both teams on April 7 with Goulburn playing away against Hall, and Taralga playing Jindabyne at Taralga.
Reds coach Ben Pearson said there was still plenty of things to work on before next weeks opening round.
“We spoke about, three key things we need to work on after that game., Pearson said. “We're really happy with the intent and the commitment, we're moving on the right path and we're obviously aware and know of the way we want to play, just the execution was lacking in three main areas and we're just gonna work on those leading in.
“I wrote three things down that we need to work on and then we spoke to the guys Tuesday night at the first training afterwards and they were basically the first three things mentioned.
“It's good to know that everyone's got the same opinion and everyone's moving in the right direction and we can build some success on the intent and commitment.
“My rule of thumb is that you pick three things and you work on those, the three most evident things and a lot of things will fall into line around those main ones.
“It was our execution at the ruck, our defense, and our set-play scrimmaging.”
Pearson said they were still down a few on the number of players they would like to have for the season. however they were in a little better position than in 2017.
“There is a number of people that I know are coming back next week and a number of people that I expect to come back next week,” he said.
“We can always do with some new numbers. “There's some guys working out at Woodlawn on the Heron project out there, one of those popped into training last night.
“We're hopeful we might get a few blokes for the season that are working out there, we can always do with a few more.”
The season starts on April 7, and their first round match is an away game against Hall at Hall Oval. Their first home game is in the second round, on April 14 against the Royals.
