Matt Archer is named Bathurst Bushrangers' men's tier one best and fairest for 2021

Archer's list of accolades with the Bushrangers is long, and on Saturday night as the club held its annual presentation he added another to his list.

Tim Hunter, who co-coached the senior men's outfit in this year's AFL Central West competition alongside Archer, said he was certainly a deserving winner.

"He's been so good for so long, I think it is a credit to him," Hunter said.

"He plays wherever we need him, forward or back, and he's definitely a match winner and we're very lucky to have him. He had an outstanding year.

"I think in the big games as well, you see him go to a new level. It's a big credit to him, he just had a fantastic year."

Amongst Archer's highlights for the season was booting eight goals to help the Bushrangers to victory in the Byrne-Long Trophy match against the Orange Tigers.

But kicking majors was not all Archer brought to the table this season. His tackling pressure was immense, he won plenty of contested possessions, he delivered the ball on the chest to team-mates on the lead, and he inspired through his examples.

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It saw him comfortably top the tally of weekly votes used to decide the best and fairest, but Hunter also had praise for the runner-up.

"Adrian Hickey finished second and he's another versatile type of player. It's good to see him get some recognition as well, he's just been super consistent and has been for a couple of years now," the co-coach said.

"We rate him really highly and it was nice to see him up towards the pointy end of it as well."

Just as the Bushrangers' experienced core once again impressed as they finished the regular season in second place, the efforts of those called into the top side throughout the 2021 campaign was a good sign too.

Archer feels it will put the Bushrangers in good stead for another strong showing in 2022 - both in the top grade and second tier men's competition where the Rebels and Outlaws placed third and fourth in the minor premiership respectively.

"We were super impressed with the number of people stepping up, I think it was probably one of the years where we've used a lot more players," he said.

"That's obviously due to injury and circumstance and sometimes you can look at it as a negative, but we saw it as a real positive.

"We had a number of guys who had probably been on the fringe for a couple of years and I suppose hadn't really had an opportunity due to our success, it was awesome for them to get a chance and see them step up from second grade and play a good chunk of the year in firsts.

"It makes our depth a lot deeper and holds us in good stead for next year, we know we can call on a number of different people. I think it's really going to create competition for spots."

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