In a rematch of last year’s grand final – although both sides have had plenty of player turnover since then – the Tigers ran out 35-point victors, winning 18.14.122 – 14.8.92.

The mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash had all the trademarks of a shoot-out, with clean skills, end-to-end football and bags of goals from key forwards – Orange spearhead Tim Barry slotted eight and Outlaws skipper Tim Hunter booted five.

“Getting the bragging rights in the top-of-the-table clash is pretty big, coming in we had big expectations and we lived up to it today, to get the win was very important,” Rothnie said after the win.

“Every part of the ground, midfield did their job, backline did their job, forward line did their job and that’s what happens when your whole team gels, you get the chocolates.”

While Rothnie played down his own performance – he had a commanding game in the centre – he highlighted the sidekicks to the Tigers’ big name gunslingers as the real stars in the victory.

“We all played pretty well, gelled together as we have been through the season progressively gelling and it showed we’re getting better and that’s why we’re top of the table, we’re gelling strong,” he said.

“If we keep playing like that I can’t see us getting knocked off any time soon.”

Outlaws skipper Tim Hunter said he was disappointed his side couldn’t claim the win, and said a few slip-ups proved costly.

“Obviously Orange is a team which we always pencil in at the start of the year and we know they’re going to be tough games,” Hunter said.

“We were happy with our performance for two-and-a-half quarters but we probably went missing for [the other] quarter and-a-half.

“A side like Orange if you don’t play four quarters you’re not going to get the points.”

The first quarter was one of the competition’s best contests of the year, with both sides playing hard at the ball and moving end-to-end with the speed of a well-practiced a cattle rustler.

Sandun Welisara and Mark Gilmore were crucial for the Tigers, linking play between wing and half-forward, while Paul Long had an impact off the halfback line for the Outlaws.

The Tigers were strong through the middle of the ground hunting the contested ball, and took a deserved but narrow three-point lead into the first break.

The Tigers stepped up a notch in the second quarter, slamming five goals to two  and with another seven majors  in the third term they looked the hungrier and more composed side, exemplified by a trademark Jaxon Mumme pirouette out of oncoming traffic before a pinpoint delivery inside 50 seconds later.

The class of Mumme and Lucas Kelly was complemented by the grunt work of Sam Gibbons in the ruck and Pierce Frecklington up forward and while Bathurst’s Harry Bowden and Pete Grundy fought hard, they couldn’t stop the relentless Tigers.

Up by 43 points at the start of the last quarter the Tigers did take their foot off the gas somewhat, and the Outlaws wrestled back control in the midfield to pick up several of repeat entries inside 50, which Hunter and Nick Swards swooped on.

“They were up by a fair bit but we still gave ourselves a chance and we really wanted to run it out and we were proud of the way we finished so that was really good,” Hunter said.