Centre bounce: Lady Bushrangers eager to excel in upcoming derby

There's lots to talk about heading into this Saturday's action, with some sides hoping to spring upsets, some looking to cement their place at the top of their ladder while others are doing important work off the field as they raise money for charity.

Here's the big headlines going into the weekend...

BEATING the Bathurst Giants - it's something the Bathurst Lady Bushrangers have not managed since round three of the 2020 season but will things be different this Saturday?

The Lady Bushrangers actually head into the AFL Central West derby on the back of a hard-fought win while the Giants are hopeful of rebounding following a loss.

That's not happened since 2018.

Lady Bushrangers co-coach Steve Grundy thinks that indicates the women's sides are closer than what the ladder shows - the Giants and Dubbo are on 32 points, the Bushies 16 and Tigers 0.

"That hasn't happened for a couple of years, but that just goes to show how close the competition is at the moment, Orange only narrowly lost to the Giants the previous week too," he said.

"So although Dubbo and Giants are streaking ahead on the ladder, I don't think there's massive gap. We often look at Dubbo and think they're only one or two quality players better than us.

"We're still hopeful and all the girls still really believe in the team, if we get our full side on the paddock they believe we are really going to give it a shake."

Though he knows the potential that lies within the Lady Bushrangers' playing list, Grundy is realistic. He acknowledges beating the Giants would be a huge upset.

But if you don't aim to win, you're already on the back foot.

"We go into every game thinking that we can win, it just hasn't translated," he chuckled.

"We watch all the hard work the girls do at training, unfortunately sometimes it just hasn't translated on game day. But we're excited because the day it does click, we're going to be very hard to beat.

"So we are going in there to beat them and hopefully we can give it a really good shake."

AFTER Bill Watterson won back-to-back best on ground medals on AFL Central West grand final day, one of his fellow Bushrangers dubbed him 'Mr September'.

But last Saturday Mr September showed he's a Mr July as well.

When a Bushrangers side already impacted by unavailabilities had more players go down to injury during their clash with Orange Tigers, the pressure was on.

The Tigers were close enough than an upset win was a distinct possibility.

But Watterson, who captained the Bushrangers, stepped up and showed his class.

"He saves his best for the bigger moments and on the weekend it was a bigger moment I suppose," Bushrangers co-coach Tim Hunter said.

"Our rotations were down, we needed somebody to step up. He was playing in the back line and put himself on their most dangerous forward and shut him down but still rebounded the ball himself.

"It was really nice to see, he sort of led the way in that aspect and the rest of the back line followed suit."

AFTER the high of last weekend's 40th anniversary celebration round, Orange Tigers will approach Saturday's match against Dubbo Demons in a determined but sombre mood as they remember clubmate Chris Rothnie.

Rothnie died by suicide in 2019 and with his birthday approaching on July 27, the Tigers will dedicate this round to his memory.

The RUOK round will feature the Chris Rothnie medal for first grade's best on ground while the club will also raise money for the charity.

Club secretary Kass Ings said Rothnie, who had come up through the club's juniors before playing first grade was a popular club member and the club was still grappling with his death.

""Dubbo were a massive support for the club when Chris passed so we like to keep that [connection] going with Dubbo and ourselves and it just happens the League has its mental health awareness round [this weekend]," she said.

Ings said since Rothnie's passing the Tigers have taken steps to support club members' mental health.

"We want to make them realise they can talk about things," she said.

"They don't need to bottle everything up. We've had a few sessions with Lifeline this year, just with everything that's happened in the past few years I try and stay on top of mental health with them all, our first grade coach [Dean Price] has done a mental health first aid course, so he's an ear that can listen."

Tigers will host the Demons on Saturday at Waratah Sportground in all grades.

IT'S going to take a lot to knock Parkes Panthers off the number one pedestal in AFL Central West's senior men's second tier competition but there's one team left who can have a say in that matter.

That side is the Cowra Blues, who travel to face Parkes this Saturday with a chance to draw level at the top of the table.

The Blues are just four points off the Panthers in the race for the minor premiership, although Parkes' mammoth percentage difference gives them a big upper hand in that battle.

The two clubs met way back in round one where the Panthers were 63 to 15 winners at Mulyan Oval.

It began the start of what has so far been an unbeaten season for Parkes.

The task gets even more tricky for the Blues this weekend as they prepare to go through the rest of the season without one of their stars, Frank Bright, who is out due to injury.

But the Blues have shown in the past that they're capable of firing under pressure, and coach Marc Hyland recently expressed his approval of the way his team were coming together as a unit at the right point of the year.

Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels aren't likely to bring down Parkes for the number one spot but if things take a turn for the worst for the Blues then they could still be a chance of a top two finish.

IF there's any game that the Bathurst Giants senior men's first grade team want to be using as a blueprint for their remaining games this year then last Saturday's win over the Dubbo Demons is a perfect one to use.

It wasn't just because the Giants produced a 72 point success, but because it came on the back of consistent pressure on both ends of the ball throughout the game.

Giants have had moments of 'patchiness' over the season, partially due to a lot of player movement in the squad, and it's been tough to start and end games with the same level of enthusiasm.

If last round is any indication then this weekend's upcoming Bathurst derby with the Bushrangers should be a beauty.

"Over the next few weeks we've got some pretty big games that we need to win if we want to get that top two spot," Giants skipper Bailey Brien said.

"I think we really want to keep working on that consistency - starting off games strong instead of chasing it. We'll need to be doing that throughout the rest of these games."

Giants have been getting their top side together at the right time of the year and it showed on Saturday.

Brien is one of those Giants who find themselves back from injury at the right time of year and he said the mood around the camp is great.

"I've been feeling a few bumps and niggles around the body but the shoulder's been really good," he said.

"It feels great to be back in there with the boys."

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