The Tigers extended their dominance over rivals Tumut with a 24-10 win at Anzac Park on Saturday.

Last year’s grand finalists have only won three of their first seven games, but captain-coach James Smart hopes the win over the Blues can kick start their season.

“We did it the hard way but for a team who was probably a bit down on confidence and under a fair bit of pressure and scrutiny to win the way that we did was quite pleasing in a weird way,” Smart said.

“We dropped so much ball, it was the most ball we’ve dropped all season but the effort was back and the energy was back.”

Dane O’Hehir scored right on half-time to give Gundagai at 16-10 lead heading into the break.

Gundagai then kept the Blues scoreless in the second stanza.

The scoreline could have been worse for Tumut after their rivals bombed a couple of good tryscoring opportunities.

They did manage to cross through Brock Dunn before a James Curgenven penalty goal sealed the win.

In his return from a serious knee injury James Luff was among his team’s best while Brett Eccleston was strong as well.

Smart is looking to build on the win.

“It was a mixed bag but we will take it as we were probably a little bit down on confidence and had to grind that one away,” he said.

“The boys will take a lot of positives out of that heading into Temora next week.”

Meanwhile Tumut tackle Cootamundra at home.

The loss sees the Blues drop to a record of four wins and three losses so far.