“You may have beaten Dubbo College, but this is a different ball game”.
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That’s the simple, and somewhat ominous, message Orange High School captain Elijah Smyth sent to Bathurst ahead of this week’s Astley Cup tie, the second of the 2018 edition of the tournament and his school’s first.
Bathurst beat Dubbo in last week’s competition-opening tie to start its title defence in perfect fashion, and the Hornets kick off their bid to win the cup back on Thursday and Friday when they welcome the reigning champions to Orange.
Smyth spoke to the Central Western Daily immediately after the Hornets’ launch assembly – essentially an American-style pep rally – on Monday afternoon, where the buzz surrounding Orange’s redemption bid after relinquishing the cup last year reached fever pitch.
“That assembly pumped it up a lot more, everyone’s starting to get really excited,” he said.
“Obviously the Astley Cup is a massive event, but I think maybe people didn’t get into as much as last year as we could’ve and Bathurst ended up winning it, so we’re really ramping it up and making sure all the players, teams and supporters are on the same page going in.
“We’ve got home ground advantage in the first leg too and I think that’ll make a difference too.”
Although Orange High always puts a huge emphasis on the fact every single point counts in this competition – in its 96th year and thought to be one of the oldest inter-school tournaments in the country – Smyth pointed to the boys’ and girls’ football games as super-important.
“They always seem to play a huge role in the big scheme,” he said, highlighting basketball, netball and hockey as the Hornets’ favoured sports.
“Hopefully both the boys’ and girls’ [football] teams can get wins or, worst case scenario, keep the margins down.”
He and his fellow captain Eliza Owens, along with all the individual sports’ captains and coaches, also put a huge emphasis on the role the Hornets’ spectators will play.
Basically, through strong performance on the field and massive support off it, Smyth says his school wants to make life as tough for Bathurst as it possibly can, especially considering the reigning champions are trying to lock up a second straight cup this week and make Orange’s trip to Dubbo next week all but redundant.
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He said he’s committing to being the driving force of that too, he was the Hornets’ rugby league captain but has been sidelined after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament.
“It is disappointing to not be able to play, especially being my last year here,” Smyth, a NSW Combined High Schools rep, said.
“But that just means my role off the field is bigger. I’ll be trying to help make sure all the teams are ready and are in a positive frame of mind, then on the sideline just making sure everyone is pumped up and giving plenty of support.”
The boys’ and girls’ football follows that at 11.30am and 1pm respectively and the athletics rounds out the first day’s sporting events from 2.15pm, all three events are at Orange High.
The Mulvey Cup debating is also on Thursday, kicking off at 5.30pm in Orange High’s library.
Basketball kicks off Friday’s second day at 9.30am and netball follows at 11am, both at Sir Neville Howse Stadium, before rugby league at 12.30pm at Wade Park.
Hockey is the leg’s main event, finishing the tie off at Orange Hockey Centre from 2.15pm.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
