Bathurst Giants win their third straight AFL Central West senior men's tier one derby

The 17-11-113 to 10-10-70 win at George Park 1 puts the Giants just one more victory away from a return to the grand final with two games remaining.

The Giants dropped the first derby of the year to the Bushrangers but have proved too tough to stop since that May defeat, winning nine straight.

It was the second quarter where the Giants put the latest derby away.

The six to one goal count in their favour was the difference in an otherwise evenly poised derby.

"The Bushrangers threw everything at us in that first quarter but we were able to push clear in that second quarter, and that was probably one of our best quarters of footy we've played in a while," Giants coach Shane Broes said.

"Everything just seemed to click, and it was probably pretty even after that. It was just that quarter that set us up and gave us a buffer that we were able to maintain for the rest of the match."

The Bushrangers did manage to narrowly outscore the Giants in the third quarter but with a 33-point gap still between the clubs going into the last period it was going to take something spectacular to shake things up.

Giants instead extended the final winning margin, and in doing so gave themselves an eight point gap at the top of the table.

Cooper Brien led the way for the Giants with six goals.

There was no love lost between the teams on another fiery edition of the derby, which Broes believed had an even greater element of physicality than usual.

"I thought that the big difference was that they were a lot more physical. They threw everything at us in that regard and once we absorbed that we were able to give a bit of it back, so to speak," he said.

"We were able to break things open through the middle, and obviously Cooper going forward was a bonus, kicking some goals for us. Everything we planned on doing seemed to work.

"If we can win against Orange that'll secure us a spot in the grand final so that's what we're working towards. It was pleasing getting that win with both Nic Broes and Cooper Traves out - one of our key players and the leading goal kicker."

Alex Sparks led the way in defeat for the Bushrangers with three goals.

He said the poor second quarter continues a trend that the team are trying to shake off as finals get closer.

"It's unfortunately a reoccurring thing when we play the Giants. They're a quality side, and we're not playing too bad against them, but it's that one quarter that keeps letting us down," he said.

"In the game on the weekend that was the second quarter and we were left chasing for the rest of the game. We were pretty happy with how we responded in the second half but it obviously wasn't enough to bring the margin down.

"We obviously want to improve each week to make sure that we're there at the pointy end of the season. We've got some things that we've identified that we need to work on to make sure we put ourselves in a better position to win."

The Bathurst clubs will meet in the last round of the regular season before finals.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.