The Orange Tigers are sitting pretty on top of both AFL Central West's senior ladders after handing Cowra a double dose of the blues at Mulyan Oval on Saturday afternoon, romping home in the men's and women's fixtures.
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Combined, the Tigers took down the Blues 30.38.218 - 2.6.18, the men remaining undefeated through four rounds and the women beginning their 2019 campaign with a big victory.
The Tigers men produced a rampant second half to eventually win by 96 points while the women were dominant from go to woah, keeping Cowra goalless and winning by 104 points.
We knew what we were doing wrong, and it was nice to be able to identify it.
- Tigers' gun Andrew Henry
The Blues largely kept pace with the visitors in the opening two terms although that was much to do with the Orange side's misgivings and wayward boots in front of goal as anything, Cowra unable to genuinely manage the Tigers' zonal defensive structure that created plenty of scoring opportunities.
The Dale Hunter-coached Tigers led by 21 points at the main break but until that point they'd kicked just four goals and a whopping 11 behinds, to Cowra's two goals two.
Led by Tyson Hannus and Mark Mori, who kicked four and three majors respectively, the Tigers found their groove in the third and fourth terms though, kicking 11 goals to none in a dominant second half to streak away from the battling Blues.
Andrew Henry, among the Tiger's best, expectedly said his side wasn't pleased with their first half effort, particularly their transitional work, and pushed hard after the break to rectify that.
"That probably showed in that first half... we tidied it up a lot better in the second half," Henry said.
"We knew what we were doing wrong, and it was nice to be able to identify it... we probably had some fresh legs as well, which also helped."
Cowra vice-captain looked on the bright side following the heavy defeat, saying he was reasonably pleased with the Blues' efforts, especially early on, given the amount of new and underdone players that took to Mulyan Oval.
"We just kept the pressure up, kept smothering the ball when we had the chance to, and when we had the chance to we kept it up in our forward line," he said of his side's opening half effort.
"I reckon we all had a fairly good crack at it."
The Tigers' women were far more consistent across the board, particularly in front of goal, and dominated proceedings from the opening whistle.
They kept the enthusiastic but nonetheless outclassed Cowra side scoreless through the entire first half, kicking seven goals seven themselves to lead by 49 at the main break.
They added another three majors in the third term and finished with a flurry, kicking five more in the final quarter to win by a triple-figure margin, with the Blues managing just three behinds in the second half.
Erin Naden was rated the Tigers' best on ground while Jemma Newman and Emma Clark cashed in during the win, kicking four goals apiece, with the former running through the midfield and hitting the scoreboard while the latter was dominant at full forward.
Hailey Spirit-Jones contributed three and Emilie Lowe kicking two in the opening few minutes of the clash.
- MEN'S: ORANGE TIGERS 15.21.111 (Tyson Hannus 4, Mark Mori 3, Sam Neville 3, Sandun Welisara, Andrew Nelson, Callan Naden, Max Bylsma, Chris Solomon) def COWRA BLUES 2.3.15 (Marc Hyland, Chris Day)
- WOMEN'S: ORANGE TIGERS 15.17.107 (Jemma Neuman, Emma Clark 4, Hailey Spirit-Jones 3, Emilie Lowe 2, Hannah Burrows, Kelly-Ann Routh) def COWRA BLUES 0.3.3
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