KOLBY McMahon marked his return to the Bathurst Bushrangers from injury with a seven goal haul in Saturday's AFL Central West senior men's derby success against the Bathurst Giants.
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Bushrangers made it five from five in their regular season contests with the Giants this season, getting home 12-3-75 to 8-8-56 winners at George Park 1 in the latest clash.
McMahon shifted from ruckman to full forward on his comeback from a knee injury, to ease him back into action, though his return was anything but quiet.
His seven goals were part of a very accurate day for the Bushrangers, who had less scoring shots than their opponents.
Bushrangers co-coach Matt Archer said Saturday's atrocious conditions played right until McMahon's hands... and his boot.
"We had Nath [Smith] out and we were never going to play him in the ruck, so he was the deepest forward. He kicked seven straight so that helped on his first game back
"He's just a big body so those conditions suited him. Once it came in he was able to shrug his opponent off and get a shot away.
"He's back from a dislocated knee and has only been running again for about a week so it was more of a precautionary thing to keep him out of the action as much as possible."
Giants gave the Bushrangers an early scare by kicking the first two goals of the match before Bushrangers hit back to lead 18 to 14 at the break.
The wet conditions often kept the ball contained around one area of the park for a while and made every point even more valuable than usual.
The 12-point margin at the second quarter remained the same after one more term before the Bushrangers gave themselves a little more breathing room with a solid final quarter's play.
"Second quarter I thought we were probably better but we just couldn't capitalise and they got a couple of quick goals which kept them in it," Archer said.
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"We'd then get two goals ahead, they'd get another couple to keep it close, then we got another couple to give ourselves a bit of room. In those conditions there was never going to be much in it."
Archer puts the Bushrangers' better goal-to-behind ratio simply down to better positioning for each attempt.
"It was a matter of making the most of our chances. We were lucky enough to get most of our chances from around 10 to 15 metres away," he said.
"They had more scoring shots but most of theirs came from more around 20 to 30 metres out, and in those sorts of conditions that's going to be a lot harder.
"It was just a territory game. Once the ball came into your forward 50 it was very hard to get the ball out of there. If you kicked a behind odds are you'd have another couple of shots at it before it was cleared out."
Archer said the match wasn't a spectacle for spectators but it did put both sides through a physical test.
"One side of the ground was completely underwater and centre clearances were an absolute must. Any time you won the ball from there you were going to be a pretty good shot," he said.
"Our midfield did a really good job to break even because they've got Jack Goodsell in the ruck, so they've got the advantage in getting the ball forward.
"General play wasn't real pretty. There wasn't a lot of strategy to it. If you can avoid handballing it then by all means get it on the boot and get it long."
BATHURST BUSHRANGERS 12-3-75 (Kolby McMahon 7, Hugh Templeton, Isaac Coldicott, Joshua Connellan, Matt Archer, Tim Hunter) defeated BATHURST GIANTS 8-8-56 (Sam Sloan 5, Bailey Brien, Nic Broes, Cooper Brien)
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