Tiger co-coach Daniel Maher said the reigning premier was slighted by comments from the Brownlow medallist that it had used used “bully” tactics in previous hit-outs.

“Our aggression on the footy and style of play has been very similar for the past seven or eight years,” Maher said.

“Our personnel has changed a little but our style and key fundamentals are the basics on what most football clubs pride themselves on.

“We certainly drew a bit from what was said during the week.

“It was disrespectful towards our playing group and club.

“We play good, tough country football and were disappointed with those comments.”

While inaccurate goal-kicking from Albury kept North Albury in the contest, the flood gates opened early in the final quarter when the Tigers banged on four goals in five minutes to set up the 20.22 (142) to 16.7 (103) victory.

It was the visitors’ 16^th successive win over their opponents with their last loss being in 2008.

Top guns Chris Hyde, Dean Polo, Brayden O’Hara, Elliott Powell and Joel Mackie had moments of dominance while Shaun Daly and Luke Packer were strong in defence.

Alex Jones was solid again for his new club with three goals and Alex Goodall did plenty of grunt work.

Key forwards Josh Mellington and Setanta O’hAilpin slotted five and four goals respectively although Hopper backman Rory Feltwell was far from disgraced in his battle with Mellington.

North Albury relied heavily on the speed of Ben Fulford, Shaun Mannagh and Lachie Taylor-Nugent inside 50 metres.

The trio kicked 11 goals between them and looked dangerous when the Hoppers were able to make quick transitions from defence.

Dan Leslie, Doulton Langlands and Matt Endresz were also bold in defeat.

Maher said the Tigers were happy with the win but cited several areas for improvement.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a one-sided affair,” Maher said.

“History shows us that.

“They played well in patches and we allowed North to kick multiple goals in junk time on a few occasions which was disappointing.

“Our goal-kicking wasn’t great either.

“It was pleasing to respond the way we did each time North Albury challenged though and there were definitely some positives come out of the match.”