THE Queanbeyan Tigers have prepared for a nightmare road trip to Sydney this Sunday after after suffering a 72-point wake-up at the hands of Sydney University in round two of the NEAFL.
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The 12-goal margin has given the Tigers a good look at what they need to work on, with the away side exposing patches of the field in dominating possession and inside-50's.
Tigers co-coach Josh Bryce said Sydney University worked a lot harder than his men, and that was the difference at the end of the day.
"Their reaction time at stoppages and to spread the ball was a lot better than ours," said Bryce.
"They were really fit and they were really fast so in the end I think they just out-worked us."
All five of the Tigers' goals in the 5.7.37 to 15.19.109 result came in the second half, with a half time total of just six behinds coming off the back of an opening fifteen minutes that saw just one inside 50 for them.
Handling and staying in possession was also an issue for the home side, who struggled to hang onto the ball for long periods of time.
And while Sydney University were not perfect themselves, they took full advantage and went into half time with a six goal advantage.
Bryce said marking up in defence needed much work for the trip to Sydney.
He said players last Sunday were having to move out of position too often to shut down University's forward movement.
"We knew what they were going to do, but our guys just couldn't combat it," said Bryce.
Despite the huge margin, however, Bryce said there was a number of positive things to come from the game which would be focused on at training during the week.
"I think the team that we have and what we can do can be competitive," he said.
"What we did on the weekend was nowhere near our best footy, but we showed in the second half when we took the game on and looked really good at stages."
The Tigers will take a knowledge of being able to beat the Sydney Swans reserve on Sunday as they beat them two years ago in the eastern conference grand final.