Letting a 14-point lead slip in the Group Nine grand final on Sunday has only added to Gundagai’s woes on the biggest day of the year.
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The Tigers had the perfect first 14 minutes to the game, going out to a 14-0 lead, before the tide started to turn once possession evened up.
Slipping behind Southcity with seven minutes left in the first half, the reigning premiers never regained the ascendancy before falling to the Bulls 22-18.
Centre Damian Willis scored in the final minute to get his team within points but that was a close as they would get.
After a fairytale performance ended their long premiership drought last year, the Tigers slipped back to a feeling all well too known after losing yet another grand final.
The four-point loss was the club’s 10th grand final defeat in their last 11 appearances.
It was the third loss for captain-coach James Smart, who wasn’t part of last year’s premiership.
He was a devastated figure following the loss.
While dejected that his crusade to claim a Group Nine premiership had once again come up short he thought Southcity’s ability to control possession and in turn field position hurt his team.
“We just tackled the whole time in that second half,” Smart said.
“There was a reason because we did that and it was because they were good.
“They were really good and kept us down in out own half, there kicking game was better than ours and they just played really well.”
Smart rued his team’s inability to make inroads in in the second half.
They had very few chances to score points as the Southcity defence kept them away from their line.
"We said at half-time whoever wins the field possession battle in the second half was going to win the game,” Smart said.
“They won it hands down.
“I don’t know what the percentage was for time in possession or field position but it would have been big there way because they did a real good job.”
Despite coming up short in another grand final, Smart remains proud of his team and how they had recovered from a number of key injury concerns and player changes throughout the season.
“I am just proud of the boys and the attitude of them all is just incredible,” he said.
“We have had a lot thrown at us this year and this semi-final series just hasn’t really been ours.
“There has been a few injuries but at the end of the day we were still pretty close to full strength and they just played well.
“We could have done a few things better, but it doesn’t really matter now.”
