Forced off the field with a corked thigh in the second half, Smart had a prime spot on the bench as Gundagai hammered the Wagga team by 11 tries to one.

After bolting to a 30-6 by half-time, Gundagai kept up the frenetic scoring tempo as ‘Roos plunged further into the Group Nine mire.

On the back of five successive losses, Kangaroos have lost touch with the top five and face a monumental task to make the finals.

Roos captain-coach Adam Hall later admitted the team was in a serious predicament.

“You never say never, but we’ll probably need to go through undefeated from here (to make the finals),” Hall said. “We just need to start winning.”

For Hall, Sunday’s embarrassing failure was made all the more unpalatable by the loss of three players to the sinbin during the game.

In a disastrous hat-trick, fullback Jake Dooley (31st minute), prop Warren Lloyd (40th) and winger Hayden Ashcroft (61st) were all binned by Group 20 referee Barry Pickens.

Making a Group Nine cameo as part of a referee exchange, Pickens was certainly in Hall’s sights later.

“I don’t want to seem like I’m whinging, but it’s pretty usual to get three players in the bin,” Hall said.

“You can imagine how frustrating it is for the team. That’s when you start playing frustrated football. “It’s making things really tough.”

For the third week in a row, Roos were on the wrong end of the penalty count, but the problems go far deeper.

Roos were competitive for the opening 20 minutes, but ill discipline and a truckload of missed tackles sent the team into a spiral.

In contrast, Gundagai is starting to find its premiership touch according to Smart.

“The last few weeks we’ve been grinding out wins, but we started to create more things today,” Smart said.

“It’s all starting to come together.”

Smart was also quick to jump to the defence of the under fire referee.

“I thought he did a good job,” Smart said. “His interpretations were good.”

For the fourth week in a row, Gundagai was barely tested, running riot against a team on the ropes.

Roos and the Tigers traded a try apiece in the opening 10 minutes to be level at six-all, but it was all downhill for the Wagga team after that.

Producing some absolute football magic, Gundagai blasted on four unanswered tries before halftime to be up 30-6 at the break.

Gundagai five-eighth Tyron Gorman was in dazzling touch in the first half and started the second half with a bang, scoring a slick try in the 43rd minute off a James Luff pass.

The further it went the worst it got for Roos as the Tigers players virtually took turns to score.

Winger Phil Latu, second rower Brett Eccleston and Luff were also outstanding, while Brock Dunn, Dane O’Hehir and Vincent Brown were not far behind.