Four year wait is over: Bushrangers prevail in women's derby

Bushrangers scored a long awaited win over their local rivals Giants in the first women's derby of the season on Saturday, claiming a 7.11 (53) to 3.5 (23) win to end a long drought in the all-Bathurst matchup.

The last time the Bushrangers the better of the Giants was back on August 1 in 2020, a two-point win on George Park 2.

Since that day the Giants would go on to win the next 12 matches - the latest of which was last year's preliminary final.

The Bushrangers' explosive opening half of footy, which took them out to a 37 to 10 lead at the main break, would prove the difference in Saturday's latest derby on George Park 1.

Callee Black and Nell Griffin each scored twice for the Bushrangers, while the Giants' Elise Gullifer also kicked a pair of goals.

Just three current Lady Bushrangers players - Tomika Speer, Emily Smith and Lucy Thompson - were involved in the last victory for the club over the Giants.

The weekend's triumph was a moment of jubilation for Bushrangers captain Kelsey Richards (who missed that 2020 win due to injury).

"We're quite elated. The feeling after the game was pure joy and relief," she said.

"The camaraderie in the group was really heightened."

Bushrangers took the spoils in the first three seasons of the women's competition from 2015 to 2017 but since then haven't found a way to get by either the Giants or current defending premiers Dubbo Demons in the finals.

Richards hopes that the weekend's latest win, and a strong round one success against the Orange Tigers, can set the team up for a memorable season.

"Giants have been a strong team for so, so long - and they still are a strong and well disciplined team - and I'm of the understanding that they've got a couple of new players in the team who are still finding their feet," she said.

"In addition to that we've really settled into our team this year. We've had a few new recruits this year ourselves but this is the first year in a while we've been able to take that next step in our game play, and we're not just re-teaching the fundamentals to the majority of the new players.

"That's enabled us to play strong footy, like we did on the weekend. It's probably the strongest footy we've played in a long time.

"We kicked pretty well in the first half. Giants had their chances and we were lucky they missed a couple of goals, otherwise it could have been a different story."

For the Giants it leaves them in an unusual spot of starting the season without a win through two rounds.

However, their much improved second half will no doubt give the team confidence they can still build their way into another positive season.

Giants vice-captain Olivia Johnston could be a big loss from the match, as she awaits a diagnosis on ankle ligament damage she sustained in the opening half of the game.

Johnston said that the new players in the squad this season have been learning well across the early stages of the season.

"We're very much in a rebuilding phase, as is the rest of the club, but our women's team in particular have lost a few players

"We did manage to hold our own in that first half but our new players, who have never played football before - let alone in the wet, found it a challenging game.

"However, we were impressed with Bushies. They came out very strong and tough. Hopefully by the middle to end of the season we can match them a bit.

"Because I got injured I can't speak much for the second half of the game but I know that we were able to convert a bit more and we were up around our forward line a lot more."

Bushrangers will play host to the Cowra Blues this Saturday while the Giants travel to face the Tigers.

Both the Giants and Tigers will be chasing their first wins of the season in that game.

"When we played in Dubbo the first round we didn't have many numbers for that game and it probably doesn't give an accurate indication for how our season will go," Johnston said.

"I think the new girls, once they get a bit more experience, will do well. They'll gain more confidence and we'll come out a stronger team than when we started."