The third tie of the 2018 Astley Cup might not mean much in terms of who’s going to claim the coveted school sporting prize – Bathurst High School has already wrapped up a second straight title – but there’s still plenty on the line for Orange High and Dubbo College this week.

Just ask the two schools’ respective Astley Cup coordinators, Tegan Dray and Craig May.

Dray says her school is heading to Dubbo on Wednesday and Thursday desperate to avoid two tie defeats in the same year while May said his team is simply too proud to let a home-ground advantage slip.

“We spoke at our assembly on Monday about how long it’s been since we lost both ties in the same year, and we don’t want that to happen this year, there’s plenty of school pride on the line,” Dray said.

“There’s no such thing as a dead rubber in Astley Cup, not with the amount of passion and sportsmanship around the competition, when you start thinking that way I think you lose a lot of that.”

“But we’re in our own backyard now, so we know the bounce of the ball. We’ve grown up playing here,” May fired.

“We go in as underdogs, but the aim is to give it our best shot and get the win, there’s still plenty of pride on the line.”

Both also said the influence of the home-ground support can’t be underestimated.

“It’ll be tough on Dubbo’s turf, it always is when you travel, but we’re heading over there to win,” Dray said.

“It’s a massive lift,” May said, looking at the difference between playing away and then at home.

“We don’t have to get on a bus at 5.30pm, we can stay in bed a little bit longer and the crowd is always great. It’s a really good vibe when you host a leg.

“I think going away to Bathurst first-up was a tough assignment. A lot of kids hadn’t experience Astley cup before that trip, so it was a good initiation down there with their fanatical support was a real eye-opener for some of our kids.”

History shows Dubbo lost that trip to Bathurst convincingly, going down 487-313, before the now two-time champions edged out Orange 408-392 to clinch the cup last week.

Dray identified rugby league and the two football fixtures – boys’ and girls’ as real danger games for her side, while May said the Hornets’ biggest threats will come in hockey, netball and basketball.

“Dubbo is always strong in rugby league but I know both sides will without a few players, they’ll be at the [NSW Combined High Schools Boys’ Touch Championship], we’ve picked up a few injuries there too,” Dray said.

“They also have strong football teams, I think they’ve both done very well in the CHS Knockouts.

“I actually know Dubbo’s netball team has been improving a lot, a few of their players were in my Western CHS team and they’re strong. We have a lot we can improve on, that we know we can do, from the game against Bathurst, but that one will be a lot tighter. I think basketball will be too.

“I know the hockey girls are a little bit wary of Dubbo too, they’ve really been improving there too.”

“There’s going to be massive challenges in hockey, netball and basketball, Orange showed their class in those sports last week,” May said, although the Hornets’ hockey side will be without last week’s hat-trick hero Eva Reith-Snare.

He explained his boys’ football side might be up against it too, it plays its NSWCHS final 16 game against Girraween on Tuesday and then backs up the next day against OHS, a side that had a 2-2 draw with Bathurst last week.

“That (result) was unexpected, so they’ll be tough,” May predicted. 

“But if we play every game out to the end, the last point or the last whistle and conduct ourselves with great sportsmanship, hopefully that’ll be enough for our teams to get the win.”

Tennis kicks the tie off at 9.15am on Wednesday before the boys’ and girls’ football games from 11.30am and 2.15pm respectively, with hockey finishing the opening day’s athletic events from 2.15pm. The Mulvey Cup debate is on from 5.30pm.

Athletics starts at 9.30am on Thursday, before basketball at 11am, netball at 1pm and rugby league at 2.20pm.