AUSTRALIAN RULES
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THE Bathurst Giants broke some new ground in their Central West AFL development during a 47-point loss to the undefeated Parkes Panthers at George Park on Saturday.
Playing their fourth match as a senior outfit, the Giants looked headed for a long day when they trailed by 60 points at half-time.
However, a couple of structural changes and a big second half from key forward Jordan Longmore stopped the rot.
They closed to within 36 points at the last change and began the fourth term with a faint chance of an upset if they could repeat their third quarter performance.
The Panthers did enough to ease home though, getting the result 16-22-118 to 11-5-71.
“It was a fantastic effort from our players, we set out at the start of the year with our first goal being to win a quarter of footy, we can tick that one off now,” Giants coach Mark Kennedy said.
“We only had the one scoring shot in the first quarter, but we were able to pressure them a lot when they had the ball in their forward line. They kicked 4-10, so that effort in defence showed on the scoreboard a bit.
“We had a battle again in the second term and only had 2-1 by half-time, but we changed things a bit in the third quarter and it made a big difference.
“I had an extra player go back into defence to try and give us a bit more attack coming from out of our own end of the ground, and it also opened the forward line up a bit more for Jordan and he started to win plenty of ball.
“It shook them up a bit, that we were able to close that game and I think Parkes were a bit shocked there. Again in the last quarter we were really solid, so there was a lot to take out of that game.”
Longmore finished with six goals for the game while Jeremy Russell booted a pair. Dale Cameron managed six for the victorious Parkes outfit.
A half-time scoreline of 73 to 13 didn’t bode well for the hosts, but their determination to battle their way back into the game was a great indicator that the Giants are headed in the right direction.
Curiously, the competition ladder sees the four leading teams all unbeaten after four rounds, while the bottom half of the ladder features four winless sides.
In the next part of the draw, the Giants get to play the other winless outfits and perhaps they might be able to break through for their maiden win.
For now, Kennedy is simply happy to see the continual effort and improvement of his new side.
“Every week the effort has been consistent, it has been the execution and experience factors that have cost us a bit, but it looks like it is starting to click,” he said.
“We had some strong individual contributors on Saturday, Jordan obviously, James Kennedy, Tim French, Brendan Dye, they were all very good. Luke Macauley and Josh Broes, two of our young players, were both excellent as well.”
PARKES PANTHERS 16-22-118 (Dale Cameron 6, Shane Apsey 2, Josh Avis 2, Branden Clinton 2, Jake Adams 2, Nick Ryan, Mitch Stubberfield) defeated BATHURST GIANTS 11-5-71 (Jordan Longmore 6, Jeremy Russell 2, James Allen, Michael Borg, Luke Macauley)