A STRONG first half of football set up the Bathurst Bushrangers Outlaws for a win over the Parkes Panthers on Saturday at George Park 2.
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Outlaws ran out 12-18-90 to 7-4-46 over Parkes in breezy conditions, with the hosts kicking eight of their goals in a dominant opening half.
The win got the Bushrangers' 10-year anniversary celebrations of their grand final sweep off to a great start - followed up by wins later in the day to the Rebels and the women's side.
Outlaws co-coach Troy Robinson said the Bushrangers didn't have it all their way after the break but a composed start, and an ability to stick to a game plan, kept his side in the clear.
"There was probably a five to six-goal wind heading towards town and we were kicking against that to start off but we played really well," he said.
"We were using a lot of short kicks and trying to avoid bombing it into the wind for them to cut off.
"We tried not to completely blaze it forward with the wind in the second quarter and keep focusing on the short ball. We fell away in the third quarter, when we dropped our intensity and they scored a few goals, but we picked up the effort a bit by the end."
A five-goal first term for the Bushrangers, with the conditions against them, laid the foundations for a solid half of football.
They held the Panthers completely scoreless in the second quarter while blasting nine scoring efforts up the other end to take a 59-14 lead in the main break.
Panthers did manage to outscore the Bushrangers by a point in the third quarter, 20 to 19, but that wasn't going to be enough to shake the home side off their perch.
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Robinson said the win was far from perfect and it will give the team plenty to ponder ahead of a big game against the Dubbo Demons.
"We might have come out a bit flat footed and got into some bad habits after half-time, and put ourselves under pressure due to some poor decisions," he said.
"It ended up being 16-a-side since they only brought across 17 players. That hurt us with our structure a bit because we had to lose to players. We had seven on the bench, trying to give everyone a run.
"We were using that bench quite regularly to keep us fresh. There were a lot of on-ball rotations and we had people a run in places they don't normally play, which is good."
Positive reinforcement from the sidelines went a long way towards keeping the Bushrangers on their toes.
"We had a good crowd there in the afternoon watching both the senior men's games and the crowd stuck around for the night," Robinson said.
"It was great for the Rebels boys to get the win over the Giants as well."
While the Outlaws might not have got the winning margin they desired, with percentage coming into play late in this season, they have kept pace with the Demons on the ladder.
Outlaws can draw level with the Dubbo men should they find an away win next week.