A BAG of nine majors to Orange Tigers skipper Tim Barry has helped the defending Central West AFL premiers complete a 127-point win over Cowra.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It’s the black and golds’ third huge win in the last month, a golden period that’s rocketed the Tigers to the top of the this year’s minor premiership.
The Tigers completed the 23.15 (153) to 4.2 (26) rout of the Blues at Mulyan Oval on Saturday on the back of what was a dominant defensive display from the outset, with the visitors keeping Cowra scoreless in the opening quarter before completing the half with a 10-goal advantage.
As the rain eased throughout the third quarter, Orange made the most of the quicker conditions to boot eight goals in the term, wrapping up the win with five fourth-quarter majors to seal victory number nine in 2014.
For Barry, his nine-goal haul jumped his season tally to 40, a mark he’s hoping to carry even further when the Tigers host the only real challenger to this year’s title defence, Bathurst Bushrangers, on Saturday.
“There’s five or six games left and we’re probably looking to consolidate what has been a pretty good month for us,” Barry said, with last weekend’s victory following huge victories over both Young (188 points) and Dubbo (201 points) and a morale boosting 36-point win over Bathurst.
“But it won’t count for much if we don’t come out and perform this weekend.
“We get three or four uni guys back this week so we’ll be playing with a full list this weekend. There’s no excuses.”
Not that there were any excuses against Cowra.
The cubs coach Nathan Pearce blooded at Mulyan Oval stood tall, with Tristan Degn, Toby Polkinghorne and Vaughn Higgins all bright sparks in the Tigers’ big win over the Blues.
Barry said the inclusion of the under 18s trio enabled the club to play with “more energy”.
“For myself I was a bit nervous to see how the guys would go, but it was great to see how well the young guys fitted in,” Barry said.
The big full forward’s bag of nine was aided by hauls of three from Dale Hunter and gun midfielder Josh Bubnich, while Zac Whitehead and Degn both booted two.
Matt Dippolito, Ben McKenna and brothers Chris Rothnie and Michael Rothnie also managed to find their way on to the scoresheet.
Obviously extremely effective in front of goal, Barry said he was simply warming the full forward’s seat for injured weapon Murray Robotham, who’s battling a broken finger suffered a fortnight ago against Young.
“I’m pretty mindful that Murray has been a pretty strong target for us up front this season, and I moved back to full forward not wanting the team to change its structure,” he said.
“We’ve got Croc (Hunter) who is always capable of bobbing up with a few goals ... but I was pretty happy to grab a few.”