![Derek Hay, pictured, and Blake Dunn will again combine as Gundagai co-coaches for 2024. Picture by Ash Smith Derek Hay, pictured, and Blake Dunn will again combine as Gundagai co-coaches for 2024. Picture by Ash Smith](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/J7tLankfguv74QY82b3G7h/b1055761-9e79-41c5-b964-04859cba58e0.jpg/r0_307_6000_4000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Gundagai failed to play finals football for the first time in more than a decade.
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However they have installed the same coaching structure looking to atone for the club's worst finish since 2010.
Derek Hay and Blake Dunn will return for a second year as Tigers co-coaches.
Hay feels the pair have some unfinished business.
"After the year we had I wanted to do one more and hopefully have a more successful season," Hay said.
"With how things ended Blake and I wanted to go again and I'm looking forward to it.
"We will have a new group and more challenges but it should be good."
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Gundagai became the first premiers since Albury in 2015 to not make finals the season after winning the premiership.
They let their chance to sneak into fifth slip in the final round of the season.
To make matters worse the Tigers will be without most of the players they brought into the side this year.
Mat Lyons is headed back to Queensland, Noa Vanisi and Tristan Eldridge won't travel over from Canberra again while Joe Bromage is moving back to Newcastle.
While on the hunt for new players, Hay doesn't want to rely on a travelling contingent next year.
![Derek Hay and Blake Dunn, pictured, will again combine as Gundagai co-coaches for 2024. Picture by Madeline Begley Derek Hay and Blake Dunn, pictured, will again combine as Gundagai co-coaches for 2024. Picture by Madeline Begley](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/J7tLankfguv74QY82b3G7h/d2efff07-05d7-4973-bed6-3765d60ecb39.JPG/r0_254_4970_3059_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Instead he's hoping to reap the benefits of giving some of their juniors a taste of first grade football.
"I don't think we approached it the wrong way but I just think it was a changing of the guard," Hay said.
"We lost so many guys with so much experience that at some point or another it was going to happen and we were going to have a down year.
"We knew we had to blood some young kids and I think we've done that.
"They have to step up now as they've had a year or half a year of first grade and know what it is about.
"Hopefully kids like Nick McDonald and Toby Dasey, who we've already seen step up, can step up again.
"We'll have a few guys back like Will Herring so we will see how we will go.
"We won't approach things too differently, we won't rewrite the book but will tinker things around our training to start with in terms of how hard we train and the time length.
"We're not going to have as many travellers and other than Royce we probably won't have any so that's something to look forward to too.
"We will nearly have a complete side at training all the time, that's what we are expecting, and that's going to help with a bit of cohesion."
Gundagai are looking to get more out of the longer training sessions.
Hay believes that will help with the side's consistency issues from 2023.
"We kept training sessions pretty short last year, we definitely trained hard, but we might try to train for longer periods as it seemed to be when we played this year we couldn't play for 80 minutes," he said.
"A lot of time we would play for 40 and 80 per cent of games we probably lost within 20 minute periods. Outside of that we either won or were level with the other team.
"We'll probably train at a higher intensity for longer periods but it's just a small thing we can tinker with.
"I think mainly it will come down to attitude and how much you want it."
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