The Rock-Yerong Creek's game plan a work in progress declares co-coach Brad Aiken after first loss

Magpies co-coach Brad Aiken said his side won't be spooked by last week's loss to Marrar but he hopes they'll be stung into improvement when they host Barellan at Victoria Park.

"Our game plan is definitely a work-in-progress and we struggled a little bit with it last week," Aiken said.

"But we weren't expecting them to get it straight away, all the time. It showed we've still got a bit of work to do, to be honest. We've worked pretty hard this week on the track and we did a bit of different stuff (at training) and we'll hopefully put in a better display against Barellan."

TRYC worked hard to restrict a dangerous Marrar in the first half. But they lacked cohesion when in possession themselves, and weight of momentum saw the Bombers able to burst the dam wall as the game went on.

"We're pretty disappointed in how we played. We were just outplayed to be honest. Their intensity and their ball movement was better than ours," Aiken said.

"For us, it tells us where we need to be, what we need to work on and it identifies where we struggled.

"Our competitiveness in the first half and our attack on the footy was good but they were a little bit better at the contest and when they got hold of they footy they used it better, and they spread a bit better."

Aiken said he wasn't going to sugarcoat the outcome or make excuses for the 56-point loss but, as coaches, they'll continue to build cohesion in a team that is still coming together and has four players travelling out of Canberra.

One loss in the first three rounds, against a team running hot early in the season, is no disaster.

The Magpies are likely to field the same side this weekend, with centre-half-back Dylan Cook still sidelined with injury.

Aiken said they won't make the mistake of simply assuming they'll get back on track against winless Barellan.

"We're pretty wary of Barellan. They haven't won a game yet but we don't want to be their first," he said.

"We've got a couple of reunions and we've got our ball on Saturday night so we've got a lot to play for, it's not just the four points.

"Hopefully we turn up in both grades, play some good footy and get some good wins. But you get nothing handed to you."

TRYC will be keen to get their forward line functioning again after Marrar did almost all the scoring last week.

They were unable to bring full-forward Joey Kerin into the game after he'd shown some good signs in stages over the first two games, including seven goals in the win against Coleambally (when Dean Biermann also kicked four).

"Around the contest, we weren't efficient enough. And we didn't empty out our forward line enough to give our key forwards the opportunities to take some marks and finish their work," Aiken said.

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