The Cherrypickers scored 38 unanswered points to make it seven wins from eight games to start the season.

Daniel Foley opened the scoring at Alfred Oval on Saturday but not only did Young respond quickly but two tries leading into half-time gave them all the momentum.

They took advantage of it late in the second stanza to run out 38-6 winners.

READ MORE

While they once again put on plenty of points, it was their defensive efforts that pleased captain-coach Nick Cornish the most.

"We knew it was going to be a grind in the first half but if we stuck to our patterns and played 80 minutes then we would run away with it," Cornish said.

"They scored off a kick, which isn't ideal, but it wasn't through us so I'm ok with that.

"I'm really happy with how we played as we picked off where we left off against Temora."

Since suffering their lone loss to Gundagai, Young have only one try in each of their last three games.

Cornish believes his emphasis on defence is starting to pay off.

"We want to be primarily defensive based so if we can keep teams to lower scores, even though we know we have points in us, keeping them to six makes it easy for us," he said.

"We only needed 12 to win but we ended up running away with it and they aren't a bad side so that was good to see."

Coming off three weeks without football, Nic Hall got Young within two points after 16 minutes before tries to Josh Ayers and Cornish added to their buffer.

With a 14-6 lead at half-time, Young scored another four in the second half to add to a tough start to the season for Kangaroos.

While Ayers, who was named players' player, and Hall both scored doubles in the win, Cornish was particularly impressed with the platform their middle laid.

"Our spine played well but our middles really set the platform," he said.

"They defended really well, kept them out of their own end and gave us the field position."

James Woolford also made his return to first grade after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in pre-season last year.

Cornish believes his experience will be telling as the season progresses.

The loss leaves Kangaroos three points outside the top five heading into a clash with winless Southcity at Equex Centre on Saturday.

Meanwhile Young has the long trip to Albury to face the fifth-placed Thunder on Sunday.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: