The Pride Park crowd was pumping on Saturday as a fairly inexperienced home side kicked off their 2021 campaign with a 39-24 victory after being down by as many as 19 in the first half.

Star of the show was debutant Traye Hodge who ran in two tries and also grabbed an assist.

Hodge said nerves played a big factor in City getting off to a sluggish start.

"A lot of dropped balls and a lot of errors," he said.

"I think there were nerves from a lot of the blokes.

"I think we panicked a bit at the start but we had a chat and I think we realised our structures are there for a reason, we've got a good enough side, we believe in each other and then our forwards went in hard."

That first half was anything but joyous for City as they found themselves down 12-0 early on in the contest thanks to tries from Dubbo's Jake Styles and Pat Wheatley.

The only thing the 'Roos couldn't do in the opening 20 minutes was convert, with Styles quickly pulled from kicking duties after going 0/2, including a penalty goal from right in front.

Against the run of play, Fletcher Rose managed to get five points back on the board for City but Dubbo were quick to respond and pushed the score to 24-5

Salvaging something from the first half, Hodge barrelled over with just a minute left to play to make the score 24-10 going into the break.

The halftime talk from coach Viv Paasi definitely did the trick as City came out rejuvenated in the second half.

"Viv lit a fire under our arse," City back-rower Logan Brockman said.

"We got a good structure this year and we strayed from that a bit in the first half. Viv straightened us out at the half.

"We played stupidly that first half."

Rose crossed for his second early on before a Harry Tuberner try cut the 'Roos lead to just two.

Penalties caused the visitors too many issues after the break and once Hodge crossed for his second to give last year's runners-up the lead, City never looked like surrendering.

A pair of sin-bins to Dubbo debutant Logan Porch and Ronan Scott within minutes of each other was the final nail in the coffin as 'Roos were held scoreless in the second half.

Porch said a lack of discipline and fatigue let them down in the end.

"We had a few bad penalties there which pushed us down in our own half and then just became ill-discipled from that point on," he said.

"As a team we said that first half would beat most teams but that second half just let us down a bit and that's something we have to work on, we know what we have to work on. So back to the paddock next week and go from there."

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