JUST two more wins can give Bathurst Giants the minor premiership this AFL Central West senior men's season, and they'll go in as heavy favourites against the Orange Tigers in the first leg of that quest this Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The two teams meet on the neutral Mulyan Oval, as George Park still recovers from rain damage, where the Giants look to maintain their two-win gap over rivals Bathurst Bushrangers.
"We haven't played at Cowra for quite some time, so it will be interesting for us heading over there. The ground has held up quite well after the weekend. We're looking forward to having the game there against Orange," Giants coach Mark Kennedy said.
Giants have had the measure of the Tigers on all four previous meetings this season but the Bathurst men remain on alert.
"You can't write anyone off. It depends who turns up on the day, and last time we played them it was quite close in the muddy and wet conditions," Kennedy said.
"We went away with it in the last quarter in that last game against them but the main thing we want to focus on out of the Dubbo game is our accuracy in front of goals and getting some more run off our half back line.
"We also want to be more structured up front."
Making things difficult for the Giants will be the fact they have to do a little bit of chopping and changing to their lineup.
"We've lost Cooper Brien to concussion, so he's out for the mandatory 10 days, and we've unfortunately lost Ryan Cooke to an ACL so he's probably out for at least six months," Kennedy said.
"He was travelling really well for us this season as one of our key back men so we'll have to do some shuffling around there.
"Damian Cuff has always been solid for us so he'll come back. Max Currie is another tall player we might be able to push back there, and Shaun Noyen can play a strong role.
"We're still waiting to get James Kennedy back in the last round of the regular season. He's been very solid for us.
"We'll shuffle our on-ballers up to see if we can take some sting out of the midfield and utilise our wings this week."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
