FIVE goals apiece to Orange Tigers front men Tim Barry and Jeremy Tuson led their side to a 39 point victory over Bathurst on Saturday, a win that wasn't without speed bumps for the defending premiers.
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The Bushrangers proved they have the muscle and ability to match it with the Tigers, competing with the back-to-back champions for all the first half and much of the third term at George Park (2).
Eventually fitness, and superior execution prevailed for the Tigers, as they piled on 67 second half points - including a six goal final term - to the Bushrangers 37 to earn a comfortable win.
"I think they were pretty even sides to be honest, it was a scrappy game," Tigers coach Nathan Pearce said.
"I think in the end we just used the ball a bit more direct than they did. Our pressure forced them to use the boundaries rather than the corridor and we converted.
"It gives us an idea of where we're at, and what we need to improve on for the next few weeks. I'm pretty happy with the win."
"We were pretty happy with the first half but it all just went to slush in the last quarter and a bit," Bushies co-coach Brett Archer said.
"Orange ... handled the wet conditions in the second half a lot better than we did.
"We had that sort of control early on but we couldn't maintain it."
The sides were on all but even terms during the first quarter, with the Tigers taking a 22-20 lead into quarter-time.
While Orange did stretch its lead to nine points to lead 37-28 at the main break, the hosts were still in the hunt going into the third quarter, which brought heavy rain and ultimately stifled the Bushrangers' attacking ability.
A spirited beginning to the last stanza from Bathurst was absorbed by the premiers, who in turn took the game beyond the Bushrangers' reach with their six goal final quarter.
"At that point going into the last quarter it had been a pretty low scoring match and we were hoping that maybe Orange would start to lose their legs. We felt we could peg back that margin," Archer said.
"We couldn't make an impact on the scoreboard and when Orange got their chances they converted them."
ORANGE TIGERS 15.14 (104) (Jeremy Tuson 5, Tim Barry 5, Matt Dippolito, Paul Jenkins, Harry Carnie, Leigh Turner, Dale Cameron goals) def BATHURST BUSHRANGERS 9.11 (65) (Matt Archer 2, Jack Vogan, Tom Markey, Peter Grundy, Shaun Noyen, Jacob Davey, Emmett Carr-Smith, John Noyen goals)
