WITH the breeze at their backs in the fourth quarter the Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels timed their run to the full-time whistle to perfection on Saturday, claiming a nine point win over rivals Bathurst Giants in blustery conditions.
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Bushrangers outscored the Giants three goals to one in the final term to take a 6-7-43 to 4-10-34 victory.
Long kicks were off the table for the team running towards the clubhouse end of the ground due to the wind, while those heading to the city end could make up the metres easier.
Rebels overcame a one-point deficit at three-quarter time, on the back of the wind, to give those gathered for the club's 10-year grand final sweep anniversary something special to celebrate.
Winning co-coach Matt Archer said the severity of the wind forced the team to change their approach to the match, but the Rebels adapted well.
"It wasn't the cleanest game going around. There was only two goals scored up one end of the ground. Even when you were going with the breeze it wasn't necessarily straight and swirling towards one pocket," he said.
"That made it pretty difficult to find goals and unless you were 10 to 15 metres out it was almost impossible to score.
"The third quarter set us up. We held them goalless and we then talked about playing smart in the fourth quarter, trust our backs to get it forward, maintain possession and get it deep into the pocket to create chances.
"We had to look for short options running into the wind because if you tried to kick it long it was coming straight back towards you."
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Giants made good use of the wind in the opening quarter to take a 14 to three lead.
The men in orange did manage to find a goal against the breeze but the Rebels had a three-goal term to lead 23-20 at half-time.
Giants kicked five behinds but no goals in the following term, which would come back to bite them.
"Charlie Flude and Scott Brown, the two young guys, played the second half in the midfield. We were probably losing the clearance battle there in the first half and they came in and turned the tide for us," Archer said.
Giants coach Mark Kennedy said his side were never short on effort in a close game.
"We had probably three or four of our regular players out and our guys did really well to be matching it with them at three-quarter time but being one point in front just wasn't enough for us," he said.
"Our five behinds and no goals in the third quarter let us down. It's one that the Bushrangers will say they just got away with and hopefully we can get our ducks in a row and have a crack at them hopefully in the finals.
"It still puts a lot of confidence in our players to know we can match it with the Rebels side, who I think are one of the favourites for this year.
"Aidan Macauley was our best on ground, in the centre, and Matt Tomczyk at centre half back was strong. Shaun Noyen played really well for us too and Jenko [Paul Jenkins] controlled the ball really well."