Up against a renewed Bulldogs side who recruited heavily over the off-season, and who had the added advantage of playing at home, the Roos were always fighting an uphill battle. The nail in the coffin for the visitors, Gorrell said, was the reactive nature of their play. 

"I think we were just a little bit flat today, we got caught out a little bit," Gorrell said. 

"I think we just expected things to happen and were just waiting for it to happen instead of doing something to make it happen." 

After a first half which saw Goulburn jump out to a 16-4 lead, the Roos managed to rein the Bulldogs in during the second half, and capitalised on some errors from their younger opponents. 

However, it was not enough to bridge the gap, and the Bulldogs grabbed some late opportunities to score which pushed the final margin out to 34-14. 

The loss was unfortunate for the visitors, but Gorrell remained calm and said that "it's round one, it's not panic stations.

"I haven't seen a competition won in April before. We've got to improve, and you're not going to start round one anywhere near where you want to be, and we're a long way off that."

The Roos, who finished third on the ladder last season before losing to the West Belconnen Warriors in the semi-finals, are confident that they can still scale the heights reached in 2018.

They will be boosted in coming weeks by the arrival of NRL stalwart Reese Robinson, while Gorrell added that their numbers one (Kaine Pagura), six (Tre Williams), seven (Lachlan Cooper) and nine (James Ulrick) had little experience playing together before, and he expects the team to improve as their cohesiveness does. 

"We're gonna take time, hopefully not too long, because they're all pretty handy players in their own right," Gorrell said. 

"Once we get used to playing together and reading what each other can do, we've got to try and make the most of that." 

Next weekend the Roos will take on the Queanbeyan Blues, who are fresh off a 50-12 belting of the Belconnen United Sharks, in a home derby. 

"I don't think it's very hard to get up for a local derby," Gorrell said. 

"I think [the loss against Goulburn is] probably the wake up call we needed, when you're not going as good as you think you are.

"It gives us a lot to work on, and it's a bit of a reality check I think." 

When asked what improvements in particular he would be looking for ahead of this weekend, Gorrell wryly replied: "Enthusiasm."