Ben Gould and Jock Cornell look to step up for undermanned Tigers

Preparing for his first trial game with Wagga Tigers, the former Culcairn midfielder was keen to earn his stripes and win the respect of his new teammates.

The 26-year-old has been one of their standouts in trials against Osborne and Wodonga, and will look to step it up further when points go on the line at Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong on Sunday.

The Tigers are battling a lengthy injury and COVID list before they face arguably the toughest start of any Riverina League team, with Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes and Coolamon to follow the opener against the Lions.

Tigers coach Murray Stephenson expects most of his squad to be available by around round four. This week they will soldier on without Jesse Manton, Josh Staines, Lahn Shepherd, Lewis Waters, Nathan Cooke, Jeremy Lucas, Fraser Yates and Brayden Bigham.

Gould will play mainly as an inside midfielder for the Tigers, who are looking to adjust to the loss of Charlie Bance and Brendan Myers from their on-ball brigade.Jock

"I had a chat to Muzz (Stephenson) about what he wanted from me, mainly see ball and get ball, get it to our best ball users and try and use it well myself," Gould said.

"Efficiency is what I want to be good at and win those pack balls.

"I've never been so nervous before a praccy match (against Osborne). You've got to earn the respect of everyone around you again and just make sure no one thinks you're just going to be a caravan really, and contribute to the team.

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"I've been told Ganmain is bloody tall and we're not. Our pace might be the key to using our link up hand passing, to keep their big guys out of it as much as possible."

Jock Cornell spent a lot of time up forward for the Tigers this year, but could be used a lot more in the midfield.

He took time to find his feet early last year after taking a year off football when based in Melbourne, but produced some dominant displays in the back end.

"I definitely feel better this year. It was a slow start for me and took a while for me to adjust to the league and a new team," he said.

"I spent most of the year up forward last year, but hopefully I get can on the ball a bit more. There's been a couple of big (midfield) outs so I'll probably have to do a little bit more in there, and Gouldy has been great in the trials.

"(In early rounds) we'll put the best side we can out there at the time and anyone in there needs to play their role.

"I still think we've got a good enough list to win games, but against Ganmain we should get a good idea of where we're at."

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