ALBURY proved they are capable of making their presence felt in this year's Group Nine competition with a tough 34-18 win on the road on Saturday night.
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The Thunder spoiled Southcity's bright start to the season by running out comfortable winners in the end in the Bulls' twilight fixture at Harris Park.
There was little between the two teams at half-time but it was the Thunder who took their game to a new level after the break and put the Bulls away.
Southcity were left to rue some ill discipline, which included new captain-coach Cleve McGhie getting sin-binned early after he reacted upon winning a penalty.
The Bulls had found an early 6-0 lead but the Thunder scored during that 10 minutes and went into half-time in front.
After hanging tough in their draw against Young last week, Southcity made it hard for themselves this week by giving away a number of late penalties.
But for Albury, it reinforced their belief that they are one of Group Nine's better teams.
"I was pretty chuffed about it," Thunder coach Justin Carney said.
"I wasn't surprised by it, we're a good side, we've just got to gel.
"This is a brand new side and full credit to the boys, they have been training really hard to build those combinations and I can't thank them enough for what they bring to training each week. It's all them."
The majority of Albury's points came via the edges with Sabastian Nelson crossing for a double, while Keanau Wighton finished the game with 14 points.
After getting overrun last week in a 20-18 loss to Gundagai, Carney believes the Thunder will only get better as the year goes on.
"It was the combinations but we didn't play much different to what we did last week. I like that, the fact that we're consistent," he said.
"The difference between last week and this week was nothing, really. It was just that little extra pass that broke the line.
"Last week we were playing that bit conservative and wasn't capitalising on creating the space for people to hit the hole. That just comes with time.
"But the benchmark they set last week I'm glad that they brought in again this week because it was a pretty good benchmark and Gundagai are pretty good."
Carney loved the way it took a full team performance from the Thunder.
"All over the park, they were all pretty consistent. That's the most pleasing thing about the boys that I've got, no one really stands out above the rest, they all work hard for each other and I couldn't be prouder," he said.
"I don't know how Southcity sat on the hierarchy scale in how they're going to go in Group Nine but we've always found them a challenge but we knew we were up for the challenge, we don't take any club lightly.
"We're just going to do our job and they did that."
A further concern to Southcity was an ankle injury to Brodey Tracey.
