ONE goal - that was all that stood between the Bathurst Lady Bushrangers and a fifth appearance in the AFL Central West women's grand final when the final siren sounded on Saturday afternoon.
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While the Lady Bushrangers had their share of inside 50s in the preliminary final, it was the Dubbo Demons who emerged 3-2-20 to 2-2-14 victors at George Park 1.
Lady Bushrangers coach Brian Matheson could not fault the effort of his side, but conceded the Demons were simply too good.
"It's a disappointing way to finish the year, but take nothing away from Dubbo, they were fantastic and a great bunch of girls, the game was played in really good spirits," he said.
"They were just the better side, but my girls they fought hard all day. Even up until the final siren the tackling and everything was fantastic.
"Every single player put in 100 percent, we just weren't good enough on the day."
While the Lady Bushrangers had won their two previous meetings with the Demons, an injury to key defender Pagan Harrison-Brown in the final game of the regular season meant Dubbo's forward line had the better match ups when it came to height.
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Looking to mark Sophie Thrower's 50th appearance with a win, the Lady Bushrangers did kick the only goal of the opening term.
However, by half-time it was locked up at 13-all.
The Demons then restricted the Lady Bushrangers to just a single behind for the second half to book their spot in the grand final alongside the Bathurst Giants.
Though she did not kick any majors, Lauren Hazell was strong in the Demons' forward line while Emily Warner provided Dubbo with good run through the centre corridor.
"Because they are a tall side and a physical side, I think the smaller ground up there at George Park 1 suited them because it was a more contested game," Matheson said.
"A lot of time they just played numbers behind the ball, we tried to match up on that but particularly in the second half when they had a little bit of a lead, they just kept chucking more and more behind the ball.
"We just couldn't put the score on the board. It was a very even game, obviously only six points in it, and we had plenty of opportunities in the forward line, but we just couldn't take that final mark, it just kept breaking down across half forward.
"That's just football, we'll be back bigger and stronger for next year. We had so many new players this year and the general consensus is most of them will be back next year."
