MANGOPLAH-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes coach Jeremy Rowe credited Wagga Tigers for giving his side a lesson in conviction and intensity after the Tigers' pressure game propelled them to a 10.11 (71) to 7.9 (51) win at Mangoplah Sportsground on Saturday.
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The Tigers' were far more purposeful early and dominated the first quarter 3.3 (21) to 0.1 (1), with the Goannas unable to break down their relentless forward pressure.
The visitors could have been in front by more had Luke Gestier not missed three regulation set shots early.
Down 19 points after a goal apiece in the second quarter, MCUE got within a goal after key forwards George Kendall (two goals) and Trent Castle hit the scoreboard.
But the Tigers responded superbly with back-to-back goals from centre bounce clearances to Brayden O'Hara and Nathan Cooke to snuff out their comeback.
Jesse Manton broke his goal scoring drought for the Tigers with four, while young defender Justin Jenkins played strongly to limit Castles to 2.4.
The Tigers are now level with Leeton-Whitton with a 3-1 record after a third straight win, putting them in poll position to try and seal a top two spot, while the Goannas slip to 2-2.
"I thought our pressure early on was really good and that was a focus of ours, that contested ball and fierceness around the ball was great early," Tigers coach Troy Maiden said.
"And none more so when young Tom McCoullough when he laid that tackle early on, it really set the tone for us.
"That's a really good sign (how we responded to their third quarter challenge), they did come back and we knew that was going to happen at some point.
"I felt our pressure dropped off a little bit there but we've got some pretty good leaders on the ground who can get things back in place."
Rowe said the Tigers were simply too strong, but challenged his side to use the loss as a guide to where they need to get their pressure game to before finals.
"The Tigers deserve a lot of credit, they were superb and their first ten to 15 minutes with how they pressured us and attacked the footy was incredible," he said.
"Our response to that was what was incredibly disappointing. We wilted under the pressure rather than stood up, we were submissive and did very few things with conviction.
"If we can't stand up to that first 10-15 minutes today, we can't expect to stand up in a final or grand final.
"It's an awakening slap in the face for our guys that if they want to compete with the best, then we've got to be much better than we were."
Rowe said the ease in which the Tigers were able to build a buffer once his side worked so hard to get within a goal in the third quarter was tough to take.
"There's that lack of having an understanding of where the game is saying 'come and get me'," he said.
"As much as we were being outplayed we did enough to stay in the fight. We felt it was our time, but we were paper thin when the game called upon us.
"To have the game taken away from us again it does cause me great concern.
"The way we respond to pressure, the heat being up and just big games in general as a group is what we need to look into."
Lachie Kendall (illness) and Rhys Mooney (knee) were both late withdrawals for MCUE.
Wagga Tigers 3.3 4.6 8.8 10.11 (71)def MCUE 0.1 1.5 5.7 7.9 (51)
GOALS: Wagga Tigers - Jesse Manton 4, Luke Gestier 2, Nathan Cooke 2, Will Keogh, Brayden O'Hara; MCUE - George Kendall 2, Trent Castles 2, Zach Walgers, Harry Collins, Ethan Schiller.
BEST: Wagga Tigers - James Grills, Nathan Cooke, Justin Jenkins, Brayden O'Hara, Shaun Campbell, Reid Gordon; MCUE - Nick Collins, Trent Castles, Jack Carey, Thomas Keogh, Pat Killalea, Zach Walgers
