BATHURST Giants coach Mark Kennedy is hopeful that a challenging start to the season has toughened his side up and given them key areas to focus on ahead of their match against Orange Tigers this Saturday.
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Giants and Tigers are both yet to get off the mark through three rounds of the AFL Central West men's top tier competition.
The Bathurst squad have a handful of players still learning the ropes of Aussie rules and Orange weren't far away from the Dubbo Demons in their 13-goal effort last Saturday.
However, in a Giants squad lacking experience there's plenty of enthusiasm and passion, as evidenced by their commitment to training.
"We'll press the reset button," Kennedy said.
"We had some really good numbers at training on Monday and Wednesday night. We went over some of our structures and I reinforced to the guys that they need to trust in the game plan and the coaches. We trust their ability on the ground."
Giants couldn't match the experience of the Bushrangers in their 104 to 26 loss last weekend, failing to put a point on the scoreboard in the first and third quarters.
Kennedy still feels his side had chances to put more than four goals away, and that there's lessons to be learned from the times where they deviated away from the plan put in place.
"We weren't feeling down after last week but we were a bit frustrated with the way that we played. We had six debutants who have never played AFL who were out there, so it wasn't a bad result to be honest. Bushrangers are the benchmark team," he said.
- READ MORE: AFL Central West: Bathurst Bushrangers beat Bathurst Giants on back of Tim Hunter and Matt Archer nine-goal effort
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"There were a couple of silly mistakes and a few penalties which didn't go our way so it was a frustrating sort of day.
"It's a hard start to the season when you have Bushrangers, Dubbo away and Bushrangers first up. Orange are 0-3 like us. It's a must win for us.
"There's a bit of pressure on this game but I just want the guys to go out there and just have a good time. That's when they play their best footy, when they're just enjoying it."
This will be the first leg in the Giants' only back-to-back set of matches at George Park 1 this season.
Victory in this game will give the Giants a vital boost before the third and final game against Bushrangers of the regular season.
The match gets underway from 2.30pm.
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Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
