Wagga Tigers has defeated Narrandera by 18-points at Narrandera Sportsground

In an arm wrestle of a contest, two goals to none in the third term gave the Tigers the edge as they were able to run out winners 11.11 (77) to 8.11 (59).

Tigers coach Murray Stephenson credited the Eagles for their endeavour and said that his side definitely had to work hard to get the four points.

"I thought they were pretty good," Stephenson said.

"I reckon their mids did a really good job around the ball and they obviously got some pretty good service from their big fellas in the middle.

"It was a fair old slog."

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It was a see-sawing first half which saw the Tigers take a narrow five point lead into the main break, after the Eagles kicked five goals to three in the second term.

Jesse Manton extended the Tigers lead out to 11 points early in the third term before a stalemate broke out between the two sides which saw neither team able to hit the scoreboard for 14 minutes.

Pat Ryan was able to break the deadlock late in the quarter which extended the Tigers lead out to 17 points which proved the difference as both sides kicked two goals apiece in the last term.

Jock Cornell continued his awesome start to the year and was exceptional for the Tigers kicking four first half goals before spending a bit more time in the middle in the second half.

Stephenson was impressed with Cornell's performance also credited Nick Gorman who had a terrific game on the wing for the Tigers.

"He (Cornell) was really good," he said.

"Obviously he is a midfielder that goes forward and can sniff out a goal or four.

"Then Nick Gorman had his best game for the footy club today and I thought he was sensational as well.

"There were some blokes that stood up when it mattered."

The Tigers had to do it the tough way as they lost Stephenson early in the second quarter and were down to only two rotations for the remainder of the contest.

Stephenson confirmed it was a re-aggravation of the hamstring which he strained in the pre-season and was unsure how long we would be out for.

"Yeah it is," he said.

"Which is disappointing but the area which I strained at the start of the year is a bit vulnerable.

"This is my fourth game back and it's a bit disappointing as you sort of think it's behind you.

"But it's just one of those things and you just need to knuckle down, get back on the horse, do the rehab and get back when it permits."

Stephenson believed he may be sidelined for more than just a couple of weeks, but would know more in the coming days.

Shane Mumford and Brad Hutchison dominated the hit outs for the Eagles and thus gave first use to their mids.

While relatively pleased with the efforts of Carl Schwenke and Kobe Priest in the ruck, Stephenson felt the Tigers midfield group could've done more to negate the influence of the Eagles' big men.

"They were obviously two very good ruckman they were competing against," he said.

"It was never going to be about winning hit outs and giving our mids silver service, but I thought we probably could've just as a midfield group been a little bit more savvy to what they were doing and try to negate their stoppage work.

"Which we didn't get on top of and I thought they were really good around the ball today.

"That was a bit of an uphill battle in there, but it's good to have that every now and again."

Mumford was great for the Eagles and finished the game with 32 hit outs while he also had 18 disposals, four marks and four tackles.

Luke McKay was the Eagles' best and finished the game with three goals while Jack Powell, Tom Powell and Tomas Van Buuren were also impressive.

Full Time

Wagga Tigers 4.3 7.5 9.7 11.11 (77)

Narrandera 1.5 6.6 6.8 8.11 (59)

GOALS: Wagga Tigers: J.Cornell 4, J.MANTON 3, P.Ryan 2, C.Pavitt 1, B.Kelly 1; Narrandera: L.Mckay 3, H.Odgers 1, B.Renet 1, D.Quilter 1, T.Powell 1, B.Hutchison 1

BEST: Wagga Tigers: N.Gorman, J.MANTON, J.Cornell, C.Schwenke, P.Ryan, J.Piercy; Narrandera: L.Mckay, J.Powell, T.Powell, T.van Buuren, J.Smith, B.Gleeson

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