IT'S been a season of constant injury and sickness disruptions for many teams across the Central West but the Bathurst Bushrangers men's tier one side might have avoided those troubles at the best possible time.
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Bushrangers are expected to field a fully fit side for this Saturday's AFL Central West grand final at George Park 2, as they pursue a perfect season by winning the upcoming decider against cross-city rivals Bathurst Giants.
![Andrew James (main), Kolby McMahon and Ben Horn are expected to be fully fit for the grand final. Pictures by Phil Blatch. Andrew James (main), Kolby McMahon and Ben Horn are expected to be fully fit for the grand final. Pictures by Phil Blatch.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/YpbCWLfGAstDHC22gJwdbm/081155b8-cece-4085-8548-af856a0aa603.png/r0_0_1920_1079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The team have experienced injury woes for the likes of Kolby McMahon, Andrew James and Ben Horn over the back half of the season but all three players will be lining up on the biggest day of the year.
James is itching to get stuck into grand final day after coming back recently from his finger injury.
"It's in as good as order as it's going to be. The impatience was definitely growing towards the end there," he said.
"The therapist was pushing for a longer recovery but I said that wasn't happening for a finger so we said that this was the day I was going to target. Everything came back positive from scans and the surgeon.
"It just so happened that Kolby happened to come back on the same week as me, and now Benny Horn's back this weekend as well. He's just come out of a cast as well with his finger."
Bushrangers' reserve grade Rebels side are also in action on grand final day, which is a great reward for a team who have had to supply the top grade outfit with players on numerous occasions.
"We made note a few weeks ago that the good thing was that none of these were season-ending injuries and they all gave us bulk weeks to recover from," James said.
"Our reserve grade stocks definitely took a hit through those middle weeks of the season but we're very grateful that it was that time of year and not now. We've been lucky in that sense."
Bushrangers are five from five this year against grand finalists Giants but have had a couple of close calls against their rivals.
"They've been killing it over the last couple of weeks. They've been building over the back end of the year. You can see that when you compare our results against them from the start of the year to more recently," James said.
"We expect them to come out fast at the start. That's what they did really well last week. They jumped the gun on Dubbo and by the time Dubbo looked up at quarter-time they were already 30 points down.
"It's about trying to stop Jack Goodsell's dominance at the ruck and limiting those centre clearances, to start with. If we can stem the tide there we can get on even foot around the ground with them."
The previous game between the Bathurst teams resulted in a 12-3-75 to 8-8-56 score.
Bushrangers followed that up with a crushing 73-point success against the Demons, ensuring they enter the grand final with an added level of confidence.
"With injuries it's been tough naming the same side week-to-week. It's been nice to get some consistency back there over the last couple of weeks," James said.
"We know that if we play our best then that will be good enough. We just need to start strong because Giants have been doing that well lately."
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