The Tigers’ men suffered an upset loss while the women’s outfit scored a breakthrough victory, both were pitted against the Bathurst Giants, but the club’s focus was on the big scheme as it honoured former women’s vice-captain Katrina Hobby.

Hobby died from ovarian cancer last year and the Tigerettes and Giants faced off for the Katrina Hobby Memorial Shield on Saturday afternoon, before both clubs came together at that night’s function to raise funds that will go into a trust for her two kids.

“This kind of story definitely outweighs any results we had, good or bad,” Tigers men’s player-coach Dale Hunter said.

“There was a lot of emotion around but it was a really great night and it was good to have the Giants stick around to help us celebrate, and we raised plenty of money for Katrina’s kids which is great too.

“We’ll really look forward to next year’s corresponding game.”

Hunter labelled his side’s two-goal loss to the Giants “a little speed bump”, simply saying the Bathurst side was too good on the day.

Aidan McCauley and Frank Bright combined to kick all eight of the Giants’ majors in the 8.12.60 – 6.12.48 victory, while the Tigers battled in front of goal at Waratahs Sportsground – now officially known as Tiger Park.

“We let a lot of opportunities in front of goal slip past us, especially in the first quarter when we had the wind and only came away from it with one goal five,” Hunter said.

“We were missing basically our entire starting midfield and I think (Giants coach) Mark Kennedy would know that, but that’s no excuse, the Giants were just too good for us.

“They played really good footy and I’d suggest they’ve executed their plans perfectly, we’ll just need to get better because I’m sure we’ll play them again.”

The Giants roared home, they actually trailed the Tigers by 13 points at the final break before kicking five goals three in the fourth term to flip the script on the competition-leading Orange outfit.

While the win combined with the Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels loss propels the Giants into second, it doesn’t hit the Tigers too hard. They’re still eight points clear on top with two games left and enjoy a massive percentage advantage too.

“I haven’t done the actual sums, but I think we’d have to lose our next two games by triple-figure margins, and the Giants would need to win both, to get knocked off the top,” Hunter said.

“But that’s not a thought for us, we’ll just look to pick it up against Parkes this weekend, they’ll be full on confidence after beating the Outlaws so it’s a big game.”

Led by Emma Clark’s two goals, the fourth-placed Tigerettes took down the second-placed Giants by eight points, winning 3.7.25 – 2.5.17.

It’s the second big scalp the Orange side has claimed in the last fortnight after edging out the Dubbo Demons the week before, and was virtually sealed in a blistering first quarter.

The Tigerettes piled on 17 of their 25 points in the opening quarter, kicking two goals one to the Giants’ lone behind.

While the strong Bathurst side rolled back into the game over the next three quarters, it was just too big a mountain to scale as the Tigerettes held on.

The result means the Bathurst Lady Bushrangers have 100 per cent locked up the minor premiership as the Giants are now 12 points shy of them, while the Tigerettes have officially locked up a finals berth. They will finish fourth.