Ag College are back in the top four despite being stripped of a win during the week.
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The university club were penalised for having an unregistered player but made up for it with a crucial 39-12 win over Albury at Beres Ellwood Oval on Saturday.
The Steamers are one of the teams Ag College need to finish ahead of to ensure a return to finals and things started well.
Bonus points have been a rarity for the club despite winning four of their first six games.
However they had secured that by half-time after Nick Greenberg, who was the unregistered player, bagged his second three minutes out from the break for a 22-7 lead.
Banking the five points was definitely the highlight for coach Tom Lamond.
"We need bonus points now so it was one of our main goals," Lamond said.
"To get it in the first half was a big achievement so it was very good.
"They were fourth and we were fifth so to have a convincing win like that is very positive signs going forward."
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Ag College continued on the same note as Anthony Taylor sent over for his second six minutes into the break.
Tries to Jack Wood and Hamish Bishop extended their avantage before Tully MacPherson-Peacock crossed for a consolation try for Albury.
The bonus point victory is enough to move Ag College ahead of Albury on for and against after the completion of the first half of the season.
The Wagga club has won two more games, but a lack of bonus points so far, and the unregistered player penalty, has made things tight.
Coming off a 10-point loss to Griffith last week, Taylor's return helped structure to the side.
Lamond also thought they brought a much better attitude to the clash.
"We completely changed from Griffith last week when our first half was unstructured," he said.
"Everyone lifted and it started in the warm up.
"Everyone just switched on and you knew we were going to be on."
Even with Tom Heilman yellow carded in the first half, Lamond was thrilled with the team's defensive efforts.
Especially to shut down the impact of Tom Goggins and Blake Le Cornu.
Will Quirico had a big game defensively.
Wagga City lies ahead of Ag College following the June long weekend bye while Albury has another tough task against Griffith.
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