Bathurst Bushrangers Outlaws and Bathurst Giants playing for vital Central West AFL points

Outlaws enter the match off a close loss but a high-quality game against clubmates Rebels while the Giants were exceptional in their dismantling of the Dubbo Demons.

Giants have a chance to extend the gap between themselves and the Outlaws out to two wins while the Bushrangers can potentially knock the men in orange down from third with victory.

Bragging rights currently belong to the Giants in this matchup after their 117-point mauling of the Outlaws back in round two.

Bushrangers president and Outlaws player Alex Sparks - making his return from a month-long absence this Saturday - said there's lots of buzz around the camp for the revenge quest.

"If we don't win it makes it hard for us to reach finals, so there's added pressure, but when it comes to this rivalry we're always up for this game," he said.

"We just have to make sure we're getting first use of the ball. Last time we played them they were hungrier for the ball than we were.

"We never never got out of the car park to play that game and we're putting that one down to a bad day."

Sparks said the all-Bushrangers derby made for an ideal lead-in for the Giants clash.

"The derby matches are always close and everyone rises to the occasion," he said.

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"What's great about those games is that it's not only the cream that rises to the top. You also see the middle to lower tier players really stepping up. That's what makes them such close games.

"The younger players gain great experience in those big matches. Unfortunately, from an Outlaws perspective, we went down but from a Rebels perspective it's great to see them playing consistently."

Giants come into the match off a win against the Dubbo Demons to start their five-week run of Bathurst games.

"Hopefully we can take some of that enthusiasm into this game, and I think the Outlaws have improved vastly since the last time we played them," Giants coach Mark Kennedy said.

"It looks like they've really gelled as a team and to only go down by a couple of goals to the Rebels on the weekend I'm sure they will be enthused by that outcome."

However, it's not like the Giants don't have reasons of their own to be confident.

They turned around a nine-point loss to the Demons from earlier in the season with last Saturday's bruising 13-13-91 to 6-3-39 victory.

The result came after nearly a month away from the field.

Kennedy said a lot of pent up energy was utilised brilliantly in that result, and he's confident a lot of it is left in reserve for the first of a two-week run against Bushrangers teams.

"We'll be bolstered by some extra numbers this week like Simon Kay and Kev Walker," he said.

"Outlaws have quite a good midfield and forward ruckmen so that centre clearance is probably our focus. We need to be winning the ball out of the centre and getting some clean delivery forward.

"We've been down on percentage for out conversions rates on entries into the 50m. That's one aspect we take into this game."

The Outlaws and Giants start their game from 12pm.

This Saturday also sees the Bushrangers and Giants face each other in the women's contest.

Giants go into the contest as favourites, given their undefeated record, but it's been almost a month since the team have played due to byes.

Bushrangers kept the Parkes Panthers scoreless in a comfortable win last Saturday to keep themselves within one win of the first-placed Giants.

Giants will play to keep a hold of the top position of the ladder. They have just a two point advantage over the chasing Orange Tigers.

The Bathurst clubs face off at 12.30pm on George Park 1.