HOLDING the Bathurst Giants scoreless for a quarter - it is something the Bathurst Lady Bushrangers are viewing as a big positive as they build into the AFL Central West season.
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With Saturday's 7-11-53 to 2-2-14 win, the Giants women made it 54 consecutive victories. It's a streak which highlights the class within their ranks.
But that's also why Lady Bushrangers co-coach Pat Fisher was proud of what his side did in the second term of Saturday's clash George Park 2.
"They kicked a good score on us in the first quarter, they were up by 20 points at the end of the first, but the girls fought back really well and played three really good quarters of football after that," he said.
"They stemmed the flow after that and the Giants actually didn't kick a point in the second quarter.
"After the game I think the girls were really happy with the performance, we said all pre-season that the Giants, they will be the benchmark. So that's a starting point for us, we showed we can keep them to scoreless quarters."
The second quarter was also the Lady Bushrangers' best in terms of possession and while they couldn't fully capitalise on their inside 50s, that they pressured the Giants was a positive.
Building and sustaining that pressure for longer will be the aim as the Lady Bushrangers continue their campaign.
"I though it was a closer contest than the scoreboard showed and I think that the girls will think that too," Fisher said.
"The Giants are a great side, they hit back in the third quarter and kicked a couple of early goals on us, but the girls, myself, G and Brains [co-coaches Steve Grundy and Brian Matheson] were all really happy with the way the game panned out."
Fisher in particular praised the efforts of three of his more experienced players.
"We gave our vice-captain Abbey Hardie a job on one of their players, Zoe Peters, just to stick with her the whole game and she did amazing," he said.
"Zoe was pretty good against us in the trial, she's a very talented footballer, so we thought we'd tried to nullify one of their speedy midfielders and Abbey did a great job.
"Millie [Wright] her first competitive game back in awhile was awesome and Ciara Kearns our captain really stood up when the going got tough in that first quarter."
BATHURST GIANTS 7-11-53 (Elise Gullifer 3, Hailee Taylor 2, Tasmyn Davies 2) defeated BATHURST LADY BUSHRANGERS 2-2-14 (Abbey Hardie, Amelia Wright)
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