“I just think we gave away too many easy goals, especially early,” he said.

“They put it on us really early and we just weren’t able to stem the flow.

“We really had to battle for our goals and they just got them a little bit too easy.”

Wangaratta’s total of 105 points (16.9) was the highest score against the Tigers since Wangaratta Rovers kicked 18.9 (117) in the 2012 qualifying final.

Michael Newton kicked eight goals, which was also the first time that’s been done against the Tigers since the same year.

“’Sugar’s (Simon Thomas) our best defender, I know Newton obviously won the medal, but I actually think ‘Sugar’ battled really hard,” Daly said.

“He’s obviously undersized (189 centimetres), we were probably missing a big tall defender, which we lost a couple from last year, but I honestly think ‘Sugar’ did a better job than anyone else in our side would have done.”