It’s not an easy place to start a defence as Bathurst claimed the cup in 2015 and have won more titles than any school in the last decade. 

Mindful of the struggles that come with going back-to-back, Orange High School girls’ soccer captain Isabel Harris spoke about her school’s approach. 

“There’s a lot of pressure on us but we do want to win it back. We have to keep up the school spirit to handle the pressure,” Harris said.

Boys’ soccer captain Christian Presslaber praised his team and feels they can make a difference on the day.

“I feel like we have a well-rounded team.  A fair few players play quite high up as well so overall we should have a good chance,” Presslaber added.

Despite having a strong boys’ soccer team, Presslaber expects Bathurst will have an equally tough outfit. 

“Bathurst are very strong in soccer. I know a fair few players on their team personally and I know they’re quite strong. We should be evenly matched. It will be a good way to start the day,” he said.

A unique element that comes with the Astley Cup is the point-scoring system. 

If a rugby league match is settled at 24-6, the team that scores six will still get awarded cup points despite losing the match.

So, a 24-6 scoreline in OHS’ favour would translate to a 80-20 split of Astley Cup points for the defending champions.

Such a metric encourages each team to play to the final whistle, which Presslaber thinks is important.

“It’s a big motivation,” Presslaber said.

“Even if you are down a couple of points you still have that motivation to get as many points as you possibly can.

“Even just an extra goal could be the difference to get Orange High the win in the end.”

The opening tie of the cup will be at Bathurst on Thursday and Friday.

Orange High School will host Dubbo Senior Campus in the second round, which will be staged on June 22 and 23.

Dubbo will host Bathurst in the final leg June 29 and 30.