BATHURST Bushrangers Rebels suffered their first loss of the Central West AFL season at the hands of Cowra earlier this season and will be out to show the Blues what they have learned in that time when they meet again on Saturday.
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Saturday’s game - to be held at Cowra or Parkes depending on the condition of Mulyan Oval - is a chance for the Rebels to get revenge for their heartbreaking two-point loss back in May.
Rebels co-coach Tom Regan said his team were caught by surprise when the Blues upped their game as the match went on.
“We know what they’ve got to offer now. We’ve since worked on a couple of things that we didn’t have right at that stage,” he said.
“We were leading for the first three quarters but I don’t think we expected them to come out as hard as they did in that fourth quarter.
“We probably went into that last quarter with our heads up too high and they brought us back down to earth.”
The 10-12-72 to 10-10-70 loss was somewhat of a wake up call for the Rebels who had come into the match on the back of five successive wins.
Having taken a 55-38 lead into the final quarter at George Park, it was a tough loss for the Rebels to take.
It was also the game that helped take the Blues one step closer to the top of the Central West AFL ladder and the game which announced their title credentials.
Regan believes his Rebels outfit are a much more polished unit compared to that game.
“Our fitness has improved heaps and there’s lots of stuff we’ve been working on since then. Our structure, our gameplay, our skills have all improved.
“I expect that Cowra will come out hard and try to use their physicality to put us off our game. We’ve developed our game a lot to combat that.
“Thanks to our games against Orange, Parkes, the other Bushrangers side plus our training, we’ve developed our own physicality and ways to help avoid injury from it.”
Rebels will be bolstered by several university players returning to the city from holidays.
Regan doesn’t mind where the match takes place, just as long as it goes ahead.
“Mulyan Oval might be closed so we may have to play over at Parkes. A club meeting on Sunday said they would attempt to have all games played if possible,” he said.
“A neutral ground would make things interesting.
“Everyone just wants to get out and play some footy again.”
