Gerringong Lions received a timely wake-up call in the Group 7 last weekend and will get their credentials tested further when they lock horns with Albion Park-Oak Flats this Saturday.

The premiers have had a stop-start first month of their title defence - they opened with a bang by beating Berry 28-6 but then faltered 24-6 to Jamberoo, missed two weeks due to a bye and the Easter break before sneaking hom last Saturday at Michael Cronin Oval against Milton-Ulladulla.

Gerringong coach Scott Stewart said it wasn’t a case of his team playing dry-weather style in wet conditions, it was a case of “playing under 10 footy in first-grade conditions”.

“We were our own worst enemy with errors and turning the ball over and never really gave ourselves a chance,” he said.

“But in saying that, our defence was good. To go in only 12-6 down at half-time after all the ball we had given them was a pretty good result for us.

“It’s been raining, we’ve had a break, I could come up with a hundred excuses but we’ve just got to be better than that.

“We had to work really hard for it in the end because we put ourselves in tough positions.”

The Bulldogs shot out to a 12-0 lead after Jayden Millard and Lachlan Barr crossed the stripe in the opening 20 minutes.

An Isaac Russell break swung the momentum back to the Lions to cut the gap to six at the break before they added another early in the second stanza to trail by two.

Gerringong hit the front midway through the second half before nearly throwing the result away.

“We fell into some bad habits again and at the end of the game, they had all the running and we were defending our line,” Stewart said.

“We scrambled well to our credit, did well to hold them out.

“We know we’re going to have to improve.”

Stewart added it was hard to get an accurate gauge on who will be the teams to beat this year due to the inconsistency of the early results but said it was great to see some of the clubs that struggled last year lift their standard to challenge the frontrunners.

Gerringong have a new-look team with around half of last year’s grand final side no longer at the club but he was confident that the mix of youth and experience in the 2025 line-up would eventually string together some consistent performances.

“Some have gone to NSW Cup with the Dragons or Queensland Cup. That’s something we’ve dealt with for the last seven or eight years. Each year there’s blokes that go up and get that opportunity,” he said.

“We’ve been lucky we’ve got some good juniors coming through, they’ll be on a steep learning curve.”

Berry Shoalhaven Heads Magpies vs Kiama Knights was postponed last weekend due to the waterlogged state of Berry Showground.

Shellharbour Sharks edged out Albion Park-Oak Flats 32-24 and Stingrays Shellharbour trounced Nowra Bomaderry Jets 42-12.

Round 5 kicks off on Saturday with Berry at home to Jamberoo and Albion Park-Oak Flats hosting Gerringong at Centenary Oval.

“They’ve had the wood on us up there over the past couple of years so we certainly won’t be taking them lightly,” Stewart said.

On Sunday, Kiama travel south to Milton-Ulladulla at Mollymook Oval and the local derby between the Stingrays and Shellharbour will be held at Flinders Oval.

Ladder after Round 4: Stingrays, Kiama, Shellharbour, Jamberoo, APOF, Gerringong, Milton-Ulladulla 4, Nowra 2, Berry 0