The Bathurst Bushrangers’ Central West AFL campaign continued to build momentum on Saturday as they easily won a shortened clash with Cowra at George Park.

The Bushies were on top from start to finish and only inaccuracy in front of goal prevented a bigger scoreline than the 12-18-90 to 3-3-21 which appeared at full-time.

On a sadder note, the game was called off with almost a quarter left to play after one of the Cowra players suffered a severely broken arm.

“One of their young guys, he was very young in fact, he got a really bad break early in the fourth, and after waiting for the ambulance to get onto the field and make sure he was OK we’d lost some time,” Bushrangers coach Brett Archer said.

“So we figured it was best if we just called it at that stage.

“It was a very good performance. To miss so many shots at goal was one area we were a bit disappointed with, but we were good overall and there wasn’t a lot to complain about.”

The home side suffered a blow before the match after the late withdrawal of Tim Hunter with a groin complaint.

It didn’t make a bit of difference once things got underway though, as Bathurst went on an early scoring spree.

Had they kicked straight from the get-go, the match could have been over at quarter-time as they squandered nine shots on goal, but importantly they still managed four majors to go to the first break leading 33-6.

With Dennis Pedemont and Keegan Browne proving to be handfuls for the Cowra defence, the Blues simply couldn’t muster a challenge on the scoreboard, and by half-time it was a case of damage control for the visitors as they trailed 68-8.

They did produce a couple of goals in the third term but it was of little consequence at that stage and the early finish probably prevented a greater margin.

“Cowra only had a few players on the bench and I think that lack of depth and numbers is probably what might prevent them competing at the pointy end with the likes of Orange and ourselves,” Archer said.

“They are tough and physical and have a similar approach to us but they need a few more key players.

“We haven’t played Young yet so we can’t judge ourselves against them, but I think our first month of football has been great and we can be pretty pleased with the way we’ve gone.

“Robert O’Hara was one that came in to first grade today that showed he can handle it. Grant Daly in the middle for us was players’ player. Keegan Browne kicked four to go with his three last week.

“There are some real positive signs for us right at the moment.”

BATHURST BUSHRANGERS 12-18-90 (Keegan Browne 4, Dennis Pedemont 2, Markey Thomas 2, Grant Daly, Jordan Price, Bill Watterson, Matt Archer goals) defeated COWRA BLUES 3-3-21 (Geoff Day 2, Ronald Roe goals)