The second placed Outlaws showed no mercy in its 24-14-158 to 7-6-48 win over the sixth placed Saints.

Saints coach Brad McKinnon said his side was on the back foot from the opening bounce.

“Bathurst dominated the game from the first bounce, we were able to show patches of good form, but they only lasted briefly,” he said.

“It was a disappointing day for the Saints as we have been slowly building and getting closer to the top teams.

“The Outlaws were just a better drilled side and they showed why they are near the top of the ladder.”

McKinnon said he was disappointed that the good work of previous weeks was let down last Saturday.

“We are telling the same story after most games this season,” he said.

“The only way improvement will come is by getting numbers to training so we can work on game sense drills. 

“Without that, its hard to stand up against the top teams. It was disappointing that we could not put in a better performance for Kai Frame’s 100th and Ethen Cummins’ 50th Club match.

“Kai Frame played his best game of the year playing centre half-forward and rotating through the middle, along with Jason McKinnon who never gave up in the middle all day. Ethen Cummins also was very good in the ruck before going down with an ankle injury in the later stages of the game.”

Outlaws co-coach Matt Archer said his side were confident going into the game.

“I think we started off strongly. Getting that great start was so important for us. After that we just rolled on with it,”he said.

“A lot of our play started with some great clearances from the midfield.

“We just wanted to keep focused on playing our game, but Young had a couple of good five to 10-minute patches of play, and we sometimes panicked a bit there.”

McKinnon said this weekend’s game against the Dubbo Demons is winnable.

“We play fourth placed Dubbo at home this Saturday,” he said.

“If players train and we have a whole list to choose from we can push Dubbo if we turn up on the day ready to play.” 

BUSHRANGERS OUTLAWS 24-14-158 (Tim Hunter 10, Cam Richards 5, Kaleb Crowhurst 3, Nate Belbin, Charlie Flude, Matt Archer, Nathan Swards, Pat Edsall, Tom Galloway) defeated YOUNG SAINTS 7-6-48 (Ron Roe 2, Brad McKinnon 2, Jimmy Huynh, Drew Morris, Ben Anderson)