The Dragons were strong across the field in their 38-20 win over Junee, and there was plenty for the Temora fans to get excited about.

His first game at his junior club since 2018, Philp said it felt good to be back on field with his old mates. Crossing for a try of his own in the second half, the whole field got around their boy.

Also up for big first games were Maleke Morris and Will McDermott.

The pair were recruited over the off season from Southcity and Junee respectively, and impressed both Philp and playing-coach Josh McCrone

"It'll be a bit of a process while we work out how best to use them, and it'll be a process for them how they best fit into our system, but I thought it was pretty impressive," McCrone said.

"Hayden Philp was enormous for us, he's got a fair carry on him and skittled them a couple of times, I thought Will (McDermott) showed glimpses, he's a competitor, stays in the game, and Maleke did a great job for us, he got thrown into centres in warm up and didn't jog down into the back row, all three of them were really impressive."

The first time McCrone has won at Junee since taking on the coaching role four years ago, last year's minor premiers hit the ground running from the get go.

Morris proved himself early crossing for the Dragon's first try of the season, and the points didn't stop piling on.

Frustrations got the better of Junee captain Damian Willis, and a late elbow sent him to the sidelines for 10-minutes.

The Dragons took their opportunity while a man up to extend their lead.

But a spur of momentum late in the half got the Diesels on the board as Ratu Saurara crossed on the buzzer, taking the hosts off nil before the break.

Junee continued the momentum to earn the first points of the second half, and they carried it throughout the half, despite losing Connor McCauley for 10-minutes late in the piece.

Benefiting from lapses in Temora's game, the Diesels took on every opportunity offered to them.

McCrone is determined to tighten up on easy mistakes.

"It was a learning experience for us, round one footy when you don't have much match fitness, you've got to learn to dig in there for 12 tackles, 24 tackles, whatever it is, and we weren't willing to do that," McCrone said.

"Luckily we played well enough in the first half to have enough points in front, we'll learn from it.

"I thought we played some really good footy, we changed up the style that we played this year with the way we attacked in the first half and I think it worked really well, we pulled them apart.

"For us the 20 looks not that good, but it was two intercept tries and one kick we didn't diffuse, we've gifted 12 points, and there's a lesson to be learnt there to stay in the game."

With plenty to learn from as they move forward in the year, Philp is enjoying being home for a moment.

Pleased with the performance of the whole side, and glad to have the first win of the year on the board, he has high hopes for the rest of the year.

"I played most of my juniors with some of these boys, so to play again with them in first grade is exciting," Philp said.

"It's a good culture the boys have got here, they've already got that from the previous years but to be amongst that this year is really exciting, it makes for a good game of footy and it's a lot easier to play when you get along like that."

It was a true try-for-try game at Alfred Oval while a revamped Southcity looked to impress over a well recruited Young.

Playing coaches Cleveland McGhie and Tom Giles led by example, with each scoring twice for their sides in the 28-all draw.

With a philosophy of individual performances creating team success, McGhie walked the talk, scoring on the half-time buzzer after intercepting the ball and running the 70 metres to the try line.

Down with five minutes remaining, for the second time McGhie capitalised on a Young error at the scrum to level the scores.

Kickers Thomas Demieo and Kyle McCarthy were strong for both sides, but a successful penalty kick early in the second half form McCarthy was the ultimately what kept the Bulls from finishing two down.

Key gains Jahnayah Freeman and Jack Bush each crossed for the Cherrypickers, while old reliable McCarthy and Jesse Fitzhenry got the job done for the Bulls.

Earlier in the weekend, Wagga Kangaroos had their grand final revenge over Tumut, while Gundagai held on for a 2-point win over Albury.

KANGAROOS 34 d TUMUT 6

Kangaroos: Jacob Mascini 2, Jake Dooley 2, Ned Cooper, Nathan Rose, Zeik Foster tries; Charles Barton 3 goals. Tumut: Flynn Piper-Bye try; Jacob Toppin goal

GUNDAGAI 20 d ALBURY 18

Gunagai: Will Herring 2, Jake Hay, James Morgan tries; Will Herring 2 goals. Albury: Lachlan Munro, Jackins Olam, unnamed tries; Keanau Weighton 3 goals

YOUNG 28 drew SOUTHCITY 28

Young: Thomas Giles 2, Jack Bush, Jake Walker, Jahnayah Freeman tries; Thomas Demeio 4 goals. Southcity: Cleveland McGhie 2, Jesse Fitzhenry, Kyle McCarthy tries; Kyle McCarthy 2 goals; Kyle McCarthy penalty

TEMORA 38 d JUNEE 20

Temora: Maleke Morris, Hayden Lomax, Bill Reardon, Joel Kelly, Will McDermott, Hayden Philp, Josh McCrone tries; Jared McKinnon 4, Hayden Lomax goals. Junee: Ratu Saurara, James Strickland, Cooper Wright, Damian Willis tries; Peter Adam 2 goals