One last chance for Gundagai to save their season

The Tigers slipped to sixth after a 38-10 loss to Young at Anzac Park, with Albury moving ahead of them on points differential.

The points differential is now 34 points.

Who finishes in fifth will be decided on Sunday with two crucial games being played across town from each other.

Albury will return from three straight weeks off to tackle Kangaroos at Equex Centre while Gundagai face Southcity at Harris Park.

Co-coach Derek Hay doesn't want to focus on their finals scenario.

Instead he's just looking to make sure they get the better of the Bulls to give themselves the best chance.

"We can't worry about Albury as at the moment we can't even get ourselves right," Hay said.

"Southcity aren't going too bad, they should have beaten Temora, they were up 12-0 on the weekend against Tumut, so I'm not taking them lightly.

"Especially with the way we are playing at the moment."

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He's confident if the club makes finals anything can happen from there.

However they are expected to head into the game without inspirational lock Royce Tout, who picked up a ribs issue in Sunday's loss.

While Joel Field overcame a ribs issue himself to take on the Cherrypickers, Jack Schubert also had limited involvement in the loss.

Hay is looking to turn things around quickly and wants to see more from the side.

"We're getting everything we deserve at the moment as we don't have enough guys who are willing to work hard enough away from footy, at training and on game day," he said.

"We're not being good teammates.

"It's got nothing to do with morale or anything like that, everyone gets along really well and we have a really tight-knit group but we're just not working hard enough.

"You get what you deserve in footy and in life so we're getting everything we deserve."

Coming off a heavy loss to Tumut, Gundagai needed to win their last three games to ensure they would play finals.

Things started off on a positive note with a win over Junee before they struggled to stop Young's momentum on Sunday.

However Hay didn't think their precarious ladder position had anything to do with the performance they put on.

"We're just not willing to do the hard stuff," he said.

"In years gone with Gundagai people would go to Anzac Park and know they were going to be bashed whether they one or they lost but at the moment we're just not that team.

"It's disappointing as we can be and the thing is in years gone by when we did lose there wasn't many lopsided scores.

"This year we've leaked the second most points out of any side, we have played two extra games than anyone else, but it's just not good enough.

"Our defensive resilience is a huge issue and it's been an ongoing issue and basically even if we win we might be out."

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