WHEN Mark Kennedy first signed up as coach of the Bathurst Giants his goal was to build a competitive outfit and now, five years later, they are in reach of their first AFL Central West minor premiership.
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In beating the Dubbo Demons 12-19-91 to 10-4-64 on Saturday the Giants ensured they stayed two wins clear of nearest rivals Bathurst Bushrangers with two more regular season games to come.
So while the minor premiership is not yet a lock, Kennedy knows his side are a strong chance of retaining that number one spot.
"We're not quite there, we did the calculations and if we fall over dramatically we could let it slip, but it would be nice to finish with a minor premiership, it would be a first for the club," Kennedy said.
"It would be nice to go to the grand final early if we could, I'm not sure how they are going to run it this year with the top three and if first goes straight through to the grand final.
"It would be something great to do."
Should the Giants manage one more win in the next fortnight it will not only mark their greatest number of wins in a regular season - eclipsing the nine victories of 2018 - but see them secure the senior men's minor premiership for the first time.
It highlights just how far the Giants have come since winning just one of 17 games in their debut season in 2016 and finishing in eighth.
It took the Giants until May 2018 to win over Dubbo for the first time and on Saturday the Demons took control early on their home soil to lead 4-1-25 to 1-3-9 at quarter-time.
The Bathurst side had lost Ryan Cooke early on to a knee injury while Cooper Brien later copped a concussion, but as the Giants have done so many times, they adjusted, they rallied and they took the lead.
With Mitch Taylor and Nic Broes shuffled into the back line the Giants led by eight at the long break and increased their advantage in the two quarters which followed.
Some inaccurate kicking did have Kennedy nervous, but his side emerged victorious.
"It was tighter than what it looked, especially in the first quarter they were up by three goals. But we just composed ourselves and reset against the wind and made sure we shut down any opportunities they had," he said.
"The last quarter we just three everything in the middle and threw everything at it. The trouble was we couldn't get any straight shots on goal.
"We had plenty, but we kicked 19 behinds. We weren't shortening up our kicks into the forward line, they were blazing from 40 metres out trying to kick goals and it just wasn't working for us.
"I was always thinking I hope those behinds don't come back to hurt us because I think we had something like 40 shots on goal and they only had 14.
"It could have been a big win if we'd kicked straight in that last quarter, but hey, I'm happy to come away with a win from Dubbo."
Sam Sloan finished with four goals and Leigh Monaghan a brace while the returning Aiden Macauley provided good run through the middle of the field along with the likes of captain Bailey Brien.
Jack Goodsell was Kennedy's pick as best as he dominated in the ruck.
BATHURST GIANTS 12-19-91 (Sam Sloan 4, Emmitt Carr-Smith 2, Leigh Monaghan 2, Luke Macauley, Jack Goodsell, Aiden Macauley, Bailey Brien) defeated DUBBO DEMONS 10-4-64 (Isaac Heath 5, Josh Anasis 4, Nathan Carroll)
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