Gerringong claims bragging rights with brave victory over Thirroul

The long-awaited clash at Michael Cronin Oval between the reigning Group Seven and Illawarra League premiers lived up to its billing, with the match played several notches above typical trial pace.

The Lions were underdogs despite being on their own patch, but ultimately chalked one up for 'little brother' after the scores were locked at 12-all at halftime.

Gerringong did not concede another point until the 78th minute when Josh Martin broke the Butchers second-half drought with a penalty goal.

The hosts combined the brilliant defensive display with second half tries to Jack Quine and Toby Gumley-Quine to claim the silverware.

There's few honours, or silverware, that veteran Lions skipper Nathan Ford hasn't claimed in his stellar Group Seven career - and he added man of the match honours in the inaugural fixture.

"Everyone always says that Illawarra is a stronger comp, so even though it's only a trial match, to get a win really means a lot," Ford said.

"We have a lot of guys in the (Dragons) junior rep system and blokes that have probably missed out because they come from Group Seven, so to get a win over Illawarra, which is looked at as big brother, is pretty special.

"The attitude we have when we show up here the 26th of January, or the day after Australia Day every year, is we just rip in from the start.

"That's always been our way of playing. We don't like the fancy plays, we just keep turning them around and keep showing up for our mates.

"It really means a lot for us and the town to get a win today."

If Ford was best on ground, long-time premiership-winning teammate Rixon Russell was a close second, the experienced duo showing all their big-game experience with a trophy on the line.

"I think that game's a great achievement for them because they've never played in the Illawarra comp and people have probably thought 'yeah, they're dominating down there' but they're two blokes that, if given half a chance, they probably could have made it that next level," Lions coach Scott Stewart said.

"For them to come out and showcase their ability, I thought they were both great. Beau Doosey, Corey Mullhall, a couple of those senior guys really showed they can mix it with them day in, day out.

"That's probably as good as we played all last year. In that first 20 minutes I thought 'shit, if we play like this all year I won't have many headaches'.

"We played well and obviously Thirroul did too. We got a couple of lucky breaks go our way and in the end we just hung in there and took our chances."

While many tipped the game to be competitive, many felt that the Group Seven premiers may struggle to go with the Butchers for the duration of the 80 minutes.

In reality, it was the Lions who found more gears down the stretch, with Stewart saying he was always confident his side had the engine to match the Illawarra premiers.

"I know I've got a group that's fit and competitive and they hey hate losing anything," Stewart said.

"I knew we'd be fit and I knew we could go with them. A couple of their blokes said at the end 'we were waiting for you young blokes to go away and we just kept going'.

"It was a real high quality game of football, for the first 15 minutes there wasn't a mistake. When we got in front they certainly ramped up their defence and there was some good contact.

"We had a couple of young blokes there, it probably opened their eyes a little bit, that step up.

"We were at home and we don't like losing here so to come away with a win, it does mean a lot to us."

Ford grabbed the Lions first try after opposite number Brad Deitz opened the scoring at the other end, with tries to Lions prop Lachlan Weir and Butchers half Jarrod Boyle locking the scores at the break.

It saw the game well in the balance, but the Butchers barely resembled the side that claimed last year's Illawarra decider in the second half, struggling to build any pressure with the ball.

It's hardly panic stations with the Illawarra League season kickoff still a month away, but Butchers coach Jarrod Costello said there are some things he can't ignore following the performance.

"We seemed really flat," Costello said.

"It was our first game of the year, but there's no excuses there. It's Gerringong's first game too, and they had plenty of energy.

"We were a bit flat and when we had some opportunities in that second half, we didn't really present any genuine shape or anything that we've trained for.

"Obviously we came down here to win, so we're very disappointed to not get the result, but this is a first trial game.

"It's not a great concern, but there's enough there for me to look at and think we've got a really big month ahead of us before round one.

"We've got bigger tests than that coming round one in our comp, so we need to be much better than we were today, both sides of the ball."