THE Bathurst Bushrangers will have their last formal hit-out of the pre-season today when they head to Bateman’s Bay for the annual one-day tournament in the South Coast centre.
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The Bushrangers gave a good account of themselves at the event last year before being knocked out in the semi-finals, and will be aiming to make it at least that far once more.
As co-coaches Brett and Matt Archer get closer to settling on a first-choice line-up for the Central West AFL season, there will be a number of young players getting another chance to impress when they hit the field today.
“Again we’ve got a lot of young players in the team as we have had in our other trials, and even with that extra youth factor I know that Matt is pretty confident we can go a long way,” Brett Archer said.
“We’re pooled with teams from Ainsley in Canberra along with Kiama. There are four pools of three teams and each side plays two matches, with halves of 15 minutes.
“Basically you have to win both your games to make sure you go through to the semi-finals, so there’s no time to feel your way into it.”
As he has said throughout the last few months, regardless of the other outcomes he wants to see from any match, Archer wants his team to try and win first and foremost and today will be no exception.
Though the player numbers and field size doesn’t change from normal, the much shorter format does require some adapting.
“It is definitely different to normal footy,” he explained.
“You’re never in a position where you’re just trying to hang on, or where you get a bit fatigued and take the foot off the pedal. You’re always trying to attack.
“You really have to hit the ground running and start scoring straight away because there’s no time to get a feel for the game or your opposition. It’s a pretty intense type of football.”
During the pre-season, fitness has been one minor concern for the Bushrangers coaches, but Brett Archer believes that is starting to be addressed and today will be another step in the right direction.
“We’ve trained really hard over the last couple of weeks and it has picked up, though I think there is still a way to go,” he said.
“With potentially four games in a day though, it is a golden opportunity to improve further.
“We’re close to full-strength. We have Matt back in for this game after missing the match with the ACT Juggernauts, and the only notable absentees will be Shaun Noyen and Nathan Belbin.”
