Intra-club investment paying off for Brothers, keeps Dunn returning to tag

Dunn returned to the field this season for the second time after having a baby in October last year and said watching the young girls filter into seniors is one of the things that keeps her coming back.

Supporting them as they move into top grade play, she said the relationship is thanks to years of good work by coach Chris Suckling.

"Once upon a time we weren't great at it, but Chris has worked really hard in the last couple of seasons to really bridge that gap," Dunn said.

"He brings the junior girls up to train with us and things like that, so he's doing a really good job of that and it's great.

"We get really good numbers at training with them there, we can play opposed games, and it's like they've always played then, they just slot into the senior side so easily."

One of the team's experienced leaders, Dunn said there's a sense of pride watching new talent move into the side.

Not only does the strong relationship have short term benefits, but long term too.

The friendships she has built in more than a decade at the club has kept her returning each year, and she's excited to welcome ex-juniors to the side each year.

The injection of young players also helps push the side to be better each season.

"I love seeing those junior girls come up and I love seeing them grow and welcoming them into our side," she said.

"They're so so talented and they're always fit and fast.

"It's always really nice when you get to a pre-season and there's juniors coming through, I'm just always excited to work with them and see what we can build together because obviously us older girls aren't going to be around forever."

And it was the balance of fresh young faces and on-field experience that led the side to an 8-0 victory over reigning premiers Temora on Saturday.

Dunn said on-field it felt like the best whole team effort the side has put together for a long time.

After a narrow loss last week in their first game of the year, she was pleased to get some points on the board.

"We played really good as a team so it was really good to get that one under the belt for the start of the season," Dunn said,

"One of the things we were most impressed with was that we were able to keep them to nil, they are a really, really strong side that have been for the past couple of years and we played really well as a team to hold them out for the whole game."

Suckling was also impressed to have kept their opponents scoreless.

While pleased to have earned a win, he said there is still much to improve on.

He'd like to see the team play tighter in defence and work on their tagging, feeling they missed too many.

"It was a good win, we're still a bit rusty but it was very good defensive wise to keep Temora to no score at all," Suckling said.

"The girls turned up on the day, we didn't play our best but we got the job done.

"We scrambled a lot, our fullback saved a couple of tries when she was the only one left back there, made some crucial tags, but it was a good team effort."

With Young on their fixture next weekend Suckling said they'll focus on finessing at training to keep making improvements with each game.

Anticipating a tough match, he said there are always things to be better at, no matter how many games you are or aren't winning.

"We always have a tough game against Young, but I think everyone is going to be up there this season," he said.

TUMUT 26 d YOUNG 0

BROTHERS 8 d TEMORA 0

JUNEE 22 d SOUTHCITY 8

KANGAROOS 22 d GUNDAGAI 0

Ladder

Kangaroos 6, Temora 4, Brothers 4, Young 3, Junee 3, Albury 2, Tumut 2, Gundagai 2, Southcity 2