At the conclusion of the regular season – the Bushrangers’ first playing with two teams in the one-tier CWAFL senior competition –both the Rebels and Outlaws were still in contention.

The Rebels placed third and were drawn against Dubbo in the minor semi-final, while the Outlaws players readied themselves for the major semi-final against Cowra.

Rebels played first at George Park 2 and beat Dubbo by six points to keep hopes of an all-Bathurst grand final alive, but Cowra held on to beat the Outlaws 13-12-90 to 12-13-85.

The result saw Cowra advance straight to the grand final, while the Outlaws and Rebels will now go head-to-head in the preliminary final.

“We are all fairly quiet here at the moment. It was hard even playing them during the round matches, but we know we are going to have to beat the boys now to make the grand final,” Outlaws coach Brett Archer said following Saturday’s semi-finals.

Archer’s men finished the regular season as minor premiers, suffering just one loss on their way to earning a home ground advantage for the first grand final qualifier.

However, that defeat came at the hands of Cowra which set the scene for a tense semi-final.

The game was tight throughout, with the Outlaws leading by five at the first change thanks to booting four majors in the opening term.

In the second quarter the Outlaws’ defence worked hard to restrict Cowra to one goal and four behinds.

The Outlaws’ midfield worked hard and put together some impressive passages of play, but Cowra also made the hosts earn every inside 50.

At half-time Outlaws led 6-6-42 to 4-8-32, but during the break Cowra regrouped and came out hard when play resumed.

A six-goal third quarter gave Cowra a 10-point lead at the final change and while the final term was close, the Blues held on.

When the final siren sounded just five points – less than a goal – separated the pair.

“It went back and forth, no-one had a huge lead. I think they had a 12-point lead at one stage in that last quarter and we came back – it see-sawed the whole day,” Archer said.

“We had shots at goal, we just kept missing. We had chances in the forward 50, we just couldn’t take them.

“They were very good on the counter-attack, they kicked some goals when we should have held them in and stopped them.”

The Outlaws must now get past the Rebels to get another shot at Cowra in the grand final.

“Look I can take a few positives out of the game, I think I can correct a few things if we get to play them again in the grand final,” the coach said.

“We have definitely got a better read on them now, how they play and their tactics – so there is definitely things we can work on.

“They deserved it, they were the better team on the day. Now we just go back to training and see what we can improve.”