The Dragons have won all three of their games so far this season to sit level with Gundagai on top of the Group Nine ladder.

That's one more than Tumut, their rivals at Nixon Park on Saturday.

The Blues took a big win in the corresponding fixture but captain-coach Josh McCrone is hoping for a much better result this time around.

"It's a vastly different Tumut side to what we played last year but everyone we've played so far has been different to what they were last year," McCrone said. "We're building nicely, there's still a lot we can improve on as we're putting ourselves under way too much pressure at times but so far this year we've had the ability to be able to defend that pressure.

"While we don't want to put ourselves under all the pressure all the time it is good to know we can defend it."

The two teams will not be playing for the Challenge Cup after the Blues declined the opportunity.

McCrone was surprised the Blues didn't back themselves to win back the $1000 they would have had to have put up.

The Dragons come into the clash unchanged while Tumut are still without co-coach Zac Masters (thumb) and former co-coach Dean Bristow (back) on the sidelines.

READ MORE