The new-look Cherrypickers will host their first game of the season at Alfred Oval and meet the Tigers, who are coming off a round one draw against defending premiers Tumut.

Gundagai will be without centre Matt Lyons, who has been suspended for one game for a high tackle on Connor Massen.

The Tigers have also lost second-rower Seb Cottam to a broken arm.

Damian Willis, who was not used off the bench last week, comes into the centres, while Royce Tout will start in the forward pack.

Gundagai coach Adam Perry expects Young to be tough.

"They're a pretty good side by the looks of things so I'm expecting a pretty tough game over there, their first home game," Perry said.

It is only early days and Perry is not quite sure who are the competition frontrunners. He admitted Young could be that team after their come-from-behind 28-22 win over Junee in round one.

"I wouldn't be surprised. It's a little bit hard to tell, because a lot of the teams are different from last year," he said.

"I think it's going to be a pretty strong comp this year, all across the board. I don't think there is a weak side amongst them."

For the second consecutive time against Tumut, Gundagai got out to a good lead but were unable to put away the Blues.

Perry is not too concerned.

"I don't know if it's an issue with Tumut as such, we just made a few errors at the back end of the game," he said.

"I don't think it's an issue, first game of the year, I think both sides if you look at the stats were pretty poor in the second half when they started getting tired."

Perry expects Gundagai to take natural improvement into round two.

"Our decision making and concentration when we're tired, to improve that a little bit would be good," he said.

"It wasn't a bad game of footy (last week), both sides played pretty well."

The clash at Alfred Oval will be the lone Group Nine game on Sunday.

Southcity get their season started against Brothers on Saturday, while Kangaroos also host Tumut.

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