ASSUMPTION School's boys and girls sides are all smiles after they conquered Wednesday's Bathurst round of the Paul Kelly Cup at Learmonth Park.
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The Assumption boys side fought back to claim a 4.3-27 to 2.1-13 win over Bathurst Public School while the girls won 2.1-13 to 0.1-1 against Cathedral.
The two teams have booked a place at the upcoming regional finals of the competition thanks to their Bathurst success.
It's the second time in the space of three years that Assumption School won both the boys and girls competitions.
Central West AFL development coordinator Casey White said it was wonderful to see great numbers across both competitions, plus support from outside of Bathurst.
"We ended up with 10 boys teams and eight girls teams from the eight schools who were participating. It was also great to see the likes of St Pat's Lithgow and Oberon Public coming from out of town to support the local competition," he said.
Rain had lashed the city the night before Wednesday's competition but the Learmonth Park fields held up beautifully through almost 40 games across the day.
While the schools played for the right to represent the city at the next phase of the competition it was also a chance for many kids to experience a competitive AFL match for the first time.
White said the welcoming atmosphere of the Paul Kelly Cup is the perfect chance to see what the game is all about.
"A lot of these kids may have played AFL through AusKick programs at their school and they're certainly recognising our staff out and about after being part of those programs," he said.
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"For a lot of them, especially the year 5s, it's their first taste of competitive footy before they decide whether they want to jump into one of the local clubs."
Assumption's boys and girls were excited to learn they had both won their grand finals when the final siren sounded.
"We pumped up their tyres a week from the cup when they said our staff weren't going to be allowed back in the school unless they won both of them, and they were quick to come over and tell me they were allowed back in afterwards," White said.
"It's fantastic for the school. They're becoming a strong AFL school."
Bathurst schools have enjoyed great success in the Paul Kelly Cup's later stages in recent times.
Holy Family's girls side reached the grand final in 2017 while just a year earlier the Cathedral girls team nearly achieved the same feat with their semi-finals appearance.
Assumption School girls are hoping to emulate the efforts of their 2011 counterparts who won the state finals.