As it turned out, had the Tigers won this game they still would have missed the finals series as they needed Bega to defeat Moruya – but this was not to be as the Sharks downed the Roosters 34-16 at Moruya that same afternoon.

Eden had an injury-ravaged season, but showed in its last game of the year that it was highly competitive.

It was not for lack of effort, determination and commitment that the Tigers went down to the Bulldogs, who will play Bombala in the major preliminary final at Bombala at 2.30pm on Sunday, July 30.

The minor preliminary final will be between Bega and Moruya at Bega Recreation Ground at 4pm on Saturday, July 29.

The Eden Tigers thanked all their supporters and sponsors this year and look forward 2018.

In Sunday's game, the Bulldogs opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a Liam Beasley try in the corner, converted by halfback Jake Mikula.

The Tigers equalised in the 14th minute when a cross-field kick by John Aldridge rebounded into the arms of second-rower Robert Aratangi who ran around to score in a handy position for Aldridge to convert.

On the back of a penalty, Dogs prop Grant Moon barged over near the posts in the 22nd minute for Jake Mikula to convert for a 12-6 lead.

Six minutes later a try in the corner to Eden's Andrew Evelyn cut the margin to two points.

The Bulldogs stretched their advantage to 18-10 with a converted try to fullback Matthew Moon.

Eden responded three minutes from half-time when Aldridge sent Joe Sagoe away down the short side for a try then added the extras to trim the score at the interval 18-16 in favour of the home team.

Eden grabbed the lead 20-18 for the first and only time in the match when Aratangi charged over in the corner in the 44th minute for his second try.

That lead was short-lived as Matthew Moon crossed for his double.

A determined converted try to Zach Mikula in the 58th minute followed five minutes later with a six pointer to Dylan Cook in his first grade debut had the Dogs out to a 14 points lead.

The Tigers refused to go away, Mark Gray crashing over in the 66th minute for Aldridge to convert to narrow the gap to eight.

When Zach Mikula scored his second converted try, the Bulldogs looked safe at 40-26 with nine minutes remaining.

Again the Tigers rallied and in the 75th minute a converted try between the posts to Greg Nicholson now made it just 40-32 to the Dogs.

A couple more twists in this Dogs and Tigers tale as Merimbula-Pambula prop Ryan Becker, who'd had a spell in the sin bin, barged over in the 77th minute.

It wouldn't be a game between these fierce traditional rivals without a fracas, this time resulting in Eden fullback Toby Whitehead and the Bulldogs' Zach Mikula being binned.

Right on full-time Tigers centre Brad Pocock scored out wide for a final score of 46-36 in favour of Merimbula-Pambula.

Eden's best and fairest points went to Aratangi, who also received players' player, Pocock two points and Dylan Wheeler one.

Merimbula-Pambula's undefeated minor premier under 18s outclassed Eden/Bermagui-Cobargo 54-6.

In league-tag, Merimbula -Pambula Hot Doggies, spearheaded by the competition's leading points scorer Tamika Millard, defeated the Eden Tigeresses 32-0 after leading 22-0 at half-time.

Stephanie Robin received three points and players' player, in Eden's best and fairest, Jackie Kevil-Scott two and Danielle Young one.