Woolford era at Roos starts with big victory over Brothers

The Wagga side fired early against crosstown rivals Brothers to take a 34-16 win at Equex Centre on Saturday.

Kangaroos jumped out to a 28-0 lead at half-time, however after struggling in the second half, there is plenty of room for improvement ahead of a much bigger test against Tumut on Sunday.

"It really was like a game of two halves," Woolford said.

"We did well to get out to 28-0 at half-time and then the game got messy in the second half.

"We got caught up in some stuff we shouldn't have, dropped our standard and allowed them back into the game.

"The game was never in doubt and there was plenty to like from the first half but the second half showed we still have plenty to work from."

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Kangaroos scored three late tries in the first half to really ram home their advantage.

However Woolford thought their second half showing depicted how the club is still a work in progress, especially after getting caught up in the heat of the derby.

"In the first half we put into practice a lot of the things we've been trying to implement and it should give the guys some belief that when we execute we are going to be hard to handle," Woolford said.

"The second half was a little bit of the opposite.

"We didn't set up the way we would like, we didn't look as slick as we did in the first half but you would be a bit worried if you didn't come away from round one with some things to work on.

"There is plenty to work on but it is good to have a positive start to the season."

Recruit Tyler Jones impressed at halfback while Jake Mascini was also dangerous after switching to fullback this season.

Luke Ingram was strong through the middle while Ritchie Herangi made a good impact off the bench.

Kangaroos got through the clash unscathed on the injury front but will be sweating on the availability of Chris Maher after he was sent off for a high shot on Brothers front rower Darryl Charles in the second half.

Especially after Tumut started their campaign with a 30-12 win over Gundagai in the grand final rematch.

Woolford is expecting a much bigger challenge against the Blues.

"Tumut are one of the teams to beat and there is no doubt about that," he said.

"They've got some big, strong forwards and are going to be hard to contain.

"We are going to have to rise a couple of levels on what we did today but we will give it a good shot."