![Clay Sing gets past Tristan Eldridge's tackle attempt to score in Young's win over Gundagai at Anzac Park on Sunday. Picture by Courtney Rees Clay Sing gets past Tristan Eldridge's tackle attempt to score in Young's win over Gundagai at Anzac Park on Sunday. Picture by Courtney Rees](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/J7tLankfguv74QY82b3G7h/2b2a1b9d-3de4-4a00-a0ad-dc45e583fc00.jpeg/r0_360_6000_3747_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Young dealt Gundagai's premiership defence a big blow as the Cherrypickers look to go one better in 2023.
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After going through last season unbeaten, the Tigers are now no longer in control of their finals destiny heading into the final round after slipping out of the top five with a 38-10 loss at Anzac Park on Sunday.
Gundagai have been replaced by Albury due to their inferior points differential and need to get the better of Southcity in the final round, and hope the Thunder lose to second-placed Kangaroos to secure their finals berth.
Young remains in fourth after the big win, level on points with Kangaroos and Tumut.
They need results to go their way to sneak into third spot.
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However captain-coach Nick Cornish is pleased with how they're building.
"It was almost identical to how we played against Tumut," Cornish said.
"We grinded really well, we completed really well, we kicked really well and took our opportunities when we had the chance to.
"There's still things to work on, I'd love to see how many times we kicked it dead and gave away 20-metre restarts when we had chances to really put the pressure on them, but it's just a small thing to fix coming into finals.
"Everything else was really pleasing."
Especially off the back of a heavy loss to minor premiers Temora in round 13.
The Dragons took a 34-12 victory but Cornish believes it's been a real turning point in their season.
"Our defence is 10 times better," he said.
"Defence wins comps, I've always said that, and it's one thing that has really been pleasing.
"Tumut scored one and they (Gundagai) scored two so the past two weeks have probably been our best defensive efforts all year.
"We've managed to put on a couple of points but it makes it easier when you're not trying to chase 20 points."
Gundagai got off to a perfect start with Toby Dasey scoring after 57 seconds.
However Young were soon able to put themselves in a good position.
Sam Graziani got the Cherrypickers on the board after eight minutes before back-to-back tries to Tom Giles saw them go out to a 16-4 lead.
Graziani then scored back-to-back tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to put Young out of reach.
![Sam Graziani dives over for what would have been his fourth try, only to be denied by a forward pass call. Picture by Courtney Rees Sam Graziani dives over for what would have been his fourth try, only to be denied by a forward pass call. Picture by Courtney Rees](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/J7tLankfguv74QY82b3G7h/468232ee-f5c4-48d3-b1a7-20f0ca490573.JPG/r1267_400_5894_3307_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
They continued the onslaught through tries to Clay Sing and Boro Navori before Jack Lyons crossed for a consolation effort for the Tigers.
Nic Hall had another big impact on the clash with the classy fullback doing most of the damage through the middle this time around.
After Gundagai took a 44-12 win at Alfred Oval in the first grand final rematch, Cornish felt the side had a real point to prove.
"I think a couple of boys, especially Hally, took it a bit personal last time when Gundi put a number on us," he said.
"We spoke about it all week, they really put in the work at training focusing on this game and hopefully we can keep doing that coming into finals and the more important games."
Gundagai will be looking to regroup when their season goes on the line at Harris Park on Sunday while Young will take on Junee at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday.
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