Panthers, fielding one of the strongest lineups they’ve put on the park this season, made the visiting Giants work hard for a 11-10-76 to 9-9-63 win at Northparkes Oval.

The 63 to 38 score Giants built up at three quarter time proved too big a gap for the Panthers to bridge, as the Bathurst men made the most of their first game away from George Park this season.

Giants coach Mark Kennedy was proud of the way his team stood tall in the face of a Panthers team attempting to send one of their players out on a high.

“It was Kai Frame’s last game from Parkes and he’s retiring from footy due to an illness. They did a big fundraiser for him that night and they had a lot of players back,” he said.

“Even Parkes admitted that that was the best side they’d put on the paddock for a long, long time.

“We got off to a good start but they kept fighting back. It was a really good, physical game and thankfully we came away with the win in the end.”

Frank Bright led the way with three goals for the Giants. Dave Manning enjoyed one of his strongest games this season for the Bathurst club.

The match was the first of the Giants’ away-game adventure to end their regular season.

Giants are putting plenty of value on any points they can get over the last half of the season given that five of their last seven games are away from Bathurst.

Their win over Panthers keeps them level with Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels in the fight for second place on the ladder.

“We’ve only got one more home game so to see that we can win on the road in a tough contest is a promising sign,” Kennedy said.