The Bathurst Giants travelled to take on the Cowra Blues in Central West AFL action simply hoping to be competitive.
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Instead they came away with a 61-point triumph, and a record score for their club.
The Giants kicked 22-12-144 to the Blues’ 12-11-83 at Mulyan Oval to record their second victory of the season.
The match was won in the third quarter when the Giants came out focused, snapping nine goals and just two behinds in a dominant term.
Giants coach Mark Kennedy was ecstatic with his team’s record-breaking performance.
“It’s the highest score we’ve made as a club and the first time we’ve beaten Cowra. Our goal for us was to win two games this year and we’ve already done that,” he said.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the guys and I can’t single out any one player as a standout. Our backline was excellent and they really clicked as a group.”
Little could separate the Giants and Blues across the opening half. The Giants went into the break up 8-10-58 to 7-4-46.
At the main break Kennedy stressed to his players the need to not get caught up worrying about their opponents’ game.
The Bathurst men certainly took the message on board.
“We started to not worry about what Cowra was doing … and just focused on our task of getting the ball to our young guys out wide,” Kennedy said.
“We made sure that we were using the ball effectively every time we got into the forward 50m. We talked a lot about accuracy at the break and we kicked 9-2 the next quarter. Then in the fourth quarter we kicked five straight goals.
“To get the win at Cowra is especially satisfying. They’re a tough team at the best of times but you never know who they will have at home.
“I wasn’t going there expecting a win. I was expecting a close encounter and for us to push them so to get this result this amazing.”
The win was made all the more impressive by the fact the Giants had nine regular players missing for the trip west.
Paul Jenkins (six goals), Joey Coughlan (five) and Aiden Macauley (four) all came away with a strong tally of majors.
Giants sit fifth on the ladder, four points shy of the Dubbo Demons.
Giants will hope to carry their form into the derby clash against the Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels next round.
