After withstanding some impressive early football from Dubbo on their home ground, the Bathurst side then held the hosts goal-less for most of the second and third quarters before running out 23-19-157 to 6-7-43 winners.

Tim Hunter’s red hot form continued as he slotted 10 goals to go with the 12 he bagged against Young a week earlier.

He sits comfortably on top of the competition goal kickers list with 27.

Co-coach Brett Archer was a happy man in the wake of the 114-point drubbing.

“Dubbo actually came out and hit us pretty hard early, the first 10 minutes was fairly brutal,” he said.

“They really surprised us. They kicked a couple of quick goals and we weren’t converting the way we’d have liked, but once we started to get on top we were quite strong.

“Jack Vogan played on their full-forward and kept him very quiet throughout the match which had a big impact.”

Bathurst might have been cursing themselves in some ways initially when they sprayed a number of shots wide, kicking 3-7 for the first quarter to take a 16-point lead into the break.

They rectified that in the second by kicking 6-4, and having allowed Dubbo only two goals to half-time they were in a commanding position 49 points up.

If there was any lingering doubt about the result and its potential magnitude, they were put to bed in the third term as they restricted the hosts to a solitary point while kicking 5-2 themselves.

The rout was completed with a nine-goal final quarter.

“Tim Hunter was just outstanding once again, the game plan at the moment is just about winning the ball in the mid-field and getting it to him, isolating him up forward against his opposition,” Archer said.

“There were some other great performances as well. Emmett Carr-Smith [three goals] made his debut, Harry Bowden was a bit of an injury concern, so he had a rest and Emmett did a fantastic job.

“The likes of Bill Watterson and others through the middle were excellent.

“To really go on with the job in the second half was a good sign, percentage might be crucial if we end up tied with Orange come the end of the regular season, so it is important to really put teams away once we’re on top.”

As for Hunter, he will get his next chance against Orange in three weeks’ time and Archer says that he is already planning for how he will use his star forward against the reigning premiers.

“It is going to be interesting when we play them to see what tactics they use,” he said.

“But from our perspective I think we are going to try something different in attack anyway. I don’t want us to be showing all our cards this early in the season.”

BATHURST BUSHRANGERS 23-19-157 (Tim Hunter 10, Emmett Carr-Smith 3, Shaun Noyen 2, Matt Luther, Mike Waldren, Keegan Browne, Bill Watterson, Tom Regan, Tom Markey, Jordan Price, Simon Ross goals) defeated DUBBO DEMONS 6-7-43