IT was physical, the battle for contested possessions intense and the final minutes nail-biting before the Bathurst Giants women emerged eight-point winners over the Orange Tigers in their AFL Central West clash on Saturday.
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Although beaten the result represented a huge turnaround for the Orange Tigers, who were trounced by almost 100 points in the last round's fixture between the sides.
Coach Jacquie Ryan said one of the biggest factors in her side's improvement was having a full squad available and they were able to put that depth to good use.
"It was just good to roll over the subs and give people a break, so that throughout the game we had fresh legs instead of everyone struggling through to the last quarter when they are fatigued.
"But in saying that, honestly, that's the best that I've seen us play all season. Like, everyone just pulled it out that game, they just played outstandingly."
Captain Emilie Lowe in the centre and vice captain and centre half back Amy Murphy led by example for the Tigers who produced a standard of play that belied their fourth placing the CWAFL women's ladder.
Emily Moffet also marked her Giants opponent well for the Tigers.
The match marked the fifth edition of the Katrina Hobby Memorial Shield, an annual match played to honour a woman heavily involved in the sport in the Central West.
Hobby, who died in November 2017 following a two-year battle with ovarian cancer, was a foundation member of the Orange Tigers' women's side while her brother and son are Bathurst Giants.
"It does mean a bit to win this," Giants coach Liz Kennedy said after her side emerged 4-8-32 to 3-6-24 victors.
"To have Paeton and Connor, Katrina's kids, up there in their Giants gear, even though Katrina was part of the inaugural Tigers, it does make it a special day.
"Just to watch them grow throughout the years, yeah, it's pretty special.
"It was a pretty hard game, I think they had a full squad with it being the Katrina Hobby Memorial game and we had people away, people sick and injuries, so we could only scrape up 15."
The top-of-the-table Giants were able to hold the Hobby Memorial Shield aloft with Laycee Covington-Gorst presented with the best on ground medal.
BATHURST GIANTS 4-8-32 (Tasmyn Davies 2, Tamara Thompson, Sarah Taylor) defeated ORANGE TIGERS 3-6-24 (Tori Moore 2, Nita-Ellen Nobel)
