Nick Hay had a try called back by referee Scott Muir before Jackson Newling was just bundled into touch by the Blues defence with seconds left on the clock as the home side ran out 20-18 winners.

Co-coach Dean Bristow was relieved to come through a tough encounter with the Wagga side.

"There was a lot of character to hang on as we definitely made it hard on ourselves," Bristow said. "It was a pretty quick game of football in hot conditions but the character to turn up for each other is what we've built our season."

Not only did Tumut struggle to convert a plethora of opportunities when camped on Brothers' line for large stages on the second half, but Bristow was disappointed with how much ball they turned over in the first stanza.

Despite that the Blues took a 16-12 lead into the break after two late tries.

It took two minutes for Brothers to get on the board as Peter Little scored off a Connor McCauley grubber kick however Tumut hit back when Bristow put Brayden Draber into space four minutes later to level things.

Keifer Power then went 60 metres down the sideline to score before the Blues started to build.

With five left in the half Adam Pearce found Michael Clark with a lovely offload to level things before Pearce pounced on a ricocheted Jason Webb grubber kick to score with 40 seconds left.

The Blues dominated after the break but despite sustained periods inside Brothers' 20 they struggled to break through.

Eventually Jed Pearce barged his way over with 26 minutes to play before a 70-metre intercept from Dylan McLachlan had Brothers right back into it.

The Wagga side dominated possession in the final stages, but the Blues defence just scrambled well enough to start their season with the points.

Bristow believes the performance shows plenty of promise for the season.

"We lacked that killer punch there to put them out of the game, but in credit to us we did turn up, we made it hard and scrappy and I'll take the two points any day," he said.

"They came flying at us and we knew they would after they got that try against the run of play.

"We gave them a sniff there but the resilience of our boys is a full credit to them."

Tumut went into the clash without new recruit Lachlan Bristow who is expected to miss the next couple of weeks with a hand injury.

Brothers also lost fullback Cade Price early to a hamstring issue midway through the first half.

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