Their Wagga rivals had barely touched the ball yet trailed 18-0 after the first 12 minutes of their clash at Equex Centre.

Nathan Rose scored three tries in his first appearance for Gundagai after making the switch from Southcity while Latrell Siegwalt also looked at home in his new colours.

Captain-coach Luke Berkrey was pleased with the 42-16 win to start the season.

"I was happy with the first half and the energy we brought," Berkrey said.

"I thought we started pretty fast, which I thought we would coming in very fresh, but thought we might tire late, which we did. We got a little lethargic towards the end but all-in-all I'm pretty happy with the win."

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James Luff got things rolling when he scored after five minutes before tries to Siegwalt and Rose piled on the pressure.

In a rare moment with the ball Brothers looked like they had struck back only for James Morgan to spill the ball over the line.

Rose made them pay as he forced his way over with 16 minutes remaining in the half but Morgan was able to make amends to give Brothers on the board.

Gundagai went into half-time with a 30-4 advantage after Luff scored his second try from dummy half and added to their lead when Rose completed his hat-trick off a scrum.

Brothers had the better of things late with tries to Cade Price, Edan Price and Morgan's second giving them something to work with going forward.

All three were unconverted with Edan Price hitting the upright with each attempt.

However the damage had been well and truly done with Berkrey and Rose both getting an early mark.

"Rosey came off with a bit of a shoulder injury with the Riverina stuff so when we can rest blokes like that we will," Berkrey said.

Despite no trials with their new club, Berkrey was pleased with the impact their new recruits had.

"Them two were really good. Latrell especially at the back and then Rosey comes up with three tries just beating defenders by himself," Berkrey said. "That is why we got them to the club."

He was also pleased with how the team started off defensively.

"I was really, really pleased with our defence in the first half but we defended so hard we might have gassed ourselves out in that second half," Berkrey said. "As the season moves on I think we will get better in that area."

However it wasn't all good news for the Tigers with front rower Joel Field picking up a biceps injury.

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