Berkrey's return among boosts for Gundagai to start season

After captaining the Tigers to their unbeaten premiership in 2022, Berkrey made the move to the south coast before tearing his hamstring off the bone in his lone game last year.

With surgery ending his season before it really had the chance to begin, Berkrey played his first game in over a year in Gundagai's 28-10 loss to Kangaroos on Sunday.

The former representative forward made a number of uncharacteristic errors in his return game.

However Tigers co-coach Derek Hay is pleased to have the experienced forward back at the club.

"He's a good player, he is ageing a bit and coming off a bad injury when he snapped his hamstring off the bone in round one last year," Hay said.

"He will need some footy under his belt but still played 80 (minutes on Sunday) and will be a handy addition."

The Tigers have also welcomed a couple of new faces from Fiji.

Simon Kotoilakeba made an impact coming off the bench against Kangaroos on Sunday while Eparama Navuki played his first game for the club in reserve grade.

They join centre Josua Soronakadavu at the club after he moved down from Dalby in the pre-season.

Hay was particularly pleased with Kotoilakeba after only arriving during the week.

"Simon is a front rower and he went good actually," Hay said.

Hay's little brother Jake is also back with the club after spending the last five seasons in Penrith and Cronulla's development systems.

He made his first grade debut for the Tigers as a schoolboy in 2020 and has slotted into the centres for both of Gundagai's games.

It's a new role but one the co-coach expects he can develop into a strong relationship with James Morgan on their right edge.

"Jake's home for the moment and will be here all year," Hay said.

"He's probably playing out of position at the moment but I think he and Jimmy (Morgan) can work good on that edge together.

"It's good to have him back, he's going ok and he will only get better."

After a win over Albury to start the season followed by the bye, Hay thought a high error rate really cruelled their chances against Kangaroos on Sunday.

It's something he's looking to fix ahead of a clash with unbeaten Temora at Nixon Park on Saturday.

"We're trying to get our balance right at the moment and we're probably still not helping as a team yet but we do have a lot of new faces and guys who haven't played together," Hay said.

"It will come and we get more cohesion as the season progresses."