THE Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels escaped with a 8-8-56 to 3-13-31 win against a wasteful Young outfit in their Central West AFL showdown at Burrangong Oval on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The struggling Saints weren’t expected to offer too much resistance against the Rebels, who had lost only twice going into their match, but they pushed the Bathurst side most of the way.
Straighter kicking from the hosts could have seen them cause a boilover. Young were within a few points of the lead at one stage mid-way through the third quarter, but Bathursts’ Jack Vogan played one of the best individual matches from a forward this season to spoil their hopes.
Unfortunately for Young, their kicking didn’t improve for the rest of the game and they were held goalless after half-time.
Young trailed by four points at the main break then 18 at the last change and given the way the game had gone up until that point, a fightback from that position was always unlikely.
“We probably dodged a bit of a bullet,” Rebels co-coach Tom Regan said.
“We spent a lot of time in the forward half of the ground, but when Young took possession they were good at getting the ball forward and creating a scoring opportunity.
The result leaves the Saints in seventh spot ahead of the winless Bathurst Giants and four points behind the Orange Tigers.
YOUNG SAINTS 3-3-31 (Rowan Hosken, Kailupp, Taylor-Alchin, Ron Roe); were defeated by BATHURST BUSHRANGERS REBELS 8-8-56 (Jack Vogan 5, Tom Regan, Matt Griffin, Michael Long).
In the women’s grade Young managed to keep the Cowra Blues at bay with a 10.13-73 - 0.0.0 win, while the Under 18s went down in a tight 9.4-58 to 9.6-60 defeat by the Bathurst Bushrangers.
The Under 14s felt the full brunt of the Dubbo Demons who placed a 13.5-83 to 4.6-30 defeat on the Saints.
Next week the Saints will take on the Bushrangers Outlaws at Bathurst, while the 14s will take on the Giants.
