AUSTRALIAN RULES
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An opening quarter blitz and another big term in the third have given Orange a convincing 35-point win over the Bathurst Bushrangers in the Central West AFL first grade major semi-final on Saturday.
The Tigers will host the grand final in two weeks at Bloomfield Oval thanks to the 15-21-111 to 11-10-76 victory.
Bathurst will now play Cowra for a chance to meet Orange once more in the big one.
A five goals to one first term set up the match for the home team and after weathering some stiffer opposition in the second, they piled on the pain in the third with six more majors.
More accurate kicking could have seen their three-quarter-time buffer of 52 points blow out even further, but given the closeness of the two teams in recent times, the end result will come as a massive boost for the two-time reigning premiers.
“Orange handled the conditions better than we did, and though our mid-field and our defence were very good and we created at least as many inside 50s as they did, we weren’t able to create enough scoring opportunities,” Bushrangers co-coach Brett Archer said.
“It was a bit of a combination of poor execution up forward, and poor delivery into our attacking 50 which didn’t give the forwards a great chance.
“We have to sit down now, and make sure that if we get to the decider, we can find a way to hurt them on the scoreboard.”
Teenager Daniel Donato played something of a lone hand up front for the Bushrangers, kicking four goals and bagging the players’ player award.
The game could very well have been over at quarter-time if Orange had not been so profligate in front of goal.
They wasted plenty of opportunities in kicking 4-8, but that was still enough for a 26-point advantage as Bathurst went to the first break with just a solitary goal.
Kicking with a breeze, the visitors improved in the second quarter and halted their opponents’ momentum, trimming the margin slightly to a manageable four goals at the main change.
Again Orange put the pedal down in the third, kicking another six goals – as well as six behinds – to Bathurst’s 2-2, and the game was as good as over.
Tim Barry caused plenty of headaches for the Bathurst defence and bagged four goals, while Dale Cameron equalled that effort.
The positive from Archer’s perspective is that it appears to be an executional problem rather than a tactical one which he and his players have to address before the grand final, assuming they get past the Cowra this weekend.
“Tim Barry was very good for them, normally Jack Vogan would go straight to him but he was carrying a bit of a knee complaint and went to another player, so we weren’t able to shut him down,” the coach said.
“Daniel Donato was outstanding, he was our players’ player by a mile and he’s just one of those sportsmen who is outstanding at anything he does.
“I thought our senior guys stood up, Paul Long and Matt Archer, Tom Markey was very good. I’m really proud of the way we played, and we were able to hit back towards the end, which was good to see.
“Now it is just about getting our execution right. The two teams know each other so well that there isn’t a lot you can do with your gameplan to try and get past them.”
ORANGE TIGERS 15-21-111 (Dale Cameron 4, Tim Barry 4, Mark Dippolito 2, Mick Rothnie, Zach Forostenko, Ben Humphris, Tom Aggett, Mitchell McKenna) defeated BATHURST BUSHRANGERS 11-10-76 (Daniel Donato 4, Cameron Richards 2, Matt Archer 2, Ben Horn, Tom Markey, Harry Bowden)