A weakened Dubbo Demons made them work hard for it but, like so many of the best sides do, the Orange Tigers found a way to win and maintain their eight-point buffer at the top of the Central West AFL ladder at on Saturday.
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The gutsy Demons were only able to bring the bare minimum of 18 to Waratahs Sportsground due to injury and other commitments, and they spent nearly a full quarter with 17 on the paddock too, but still ran with the Tigers for a lot of the round nine clash.
So much so the Demons actually led at the first break, although the Tigers went on to win 16.9.105 – 11.6.72.
In perfect conditions, a stark contrast to the previous week, the Demons controlled the midfield in the opening quarter to lay on four majors, stunning the Tigers and taking a two-point lead in quarter-time.
But, despite having lost wingman Sandun Welisara to a head knock in that opening term, the Tigers regrouped and kicked four goals to one in the second quarter to lead by 20 points at the main break.
The Tigers added the first four goals of the third term as well, four of seven in the quarter, to extend that lead to 43 at the main break.
Dubbo fought back valiantly, with midfielders Bevan Charlton-White and Hamish Pearce stretching the Tigers’ backline, which was already without skipper Luke Thorley and lost Dan Sadler and Ben McKenna either side of half-time too.
Lack of legs proved no issue for the visitors, they won the last quarter but by then the damage was done, the Tigers eventually winning by a touch over five goals.
“I think we’re pretty happy, it was a three quarter effort in a four-quarter game,” Demons skipper Pearce said post-game.
“But the week we’ve had on the track and the team we’ve brought down we’re very happy, coming up against the top side and only going down by 30 (points) wasn’t too bad.”
Down to 17 players for nearly a quarter, Pearce wasn’t short of troops to award praise to.
“Tom Skinner rucked all day which was the first time he’s done that this season and competed really well, Joe Hedger gave us a lot of drive around the paddock, Bevan (Charlton-White) was really good at centre half forward, he normally plays on two blokes every week and beats them,” he said.
“Tom Budd at full-forward kicked five goals today and was good, Josh Darlow came in for his first game and set up at centre half back and the whole back six stood up really well. The whole Tigers midfield had a lot of clean footy going forward and our defenders did pretty well to hold up.”
Orange’s stand-in captain, Jaxon Mumme, described it as an “interesting” game.
“We started a little bit slow and worked into the game there and kept the fundamentals we always try and do and got the result,” he said.
“It was nice to step up, we had a fair few of the leadership group out and I was happy to step up and fill that role and it was good to come away with a win.
“Everyone mentions Dubbo might not travel as well but they came down and gave it a red-hot crack and were leading in the first quarter and giving it,” he said.
“Unfortunately through injuries and that they were a man down for some of it but they were always going to fight the whole game.”
Mumme was brilliant, too.
He started at centre half forward and fed the likes of Tim Barry, Andrew Nelson and Tyson Hannus beautifully before switching into the backline after half-time, switching into Sadler’s role as an intercept defender.
Barry was the biggest beneficiary of his service too, the big full forward bagging seven goals in the win.
Alongside Mumme and stalwart Mitch McKenna, several of the Tigers’ regular contributors stood up in the absence of big names.
He did concede his Tigers need to maintain intensity across four quarters though, especially considering they face both Bathurst Bushrangers sides in the next fortnight.
‘”Hopefully we get a lot of our crew back and ... keep the intent up the whole game, obviously we might have spells where it’s not together but if we keep pushing we should get the result in those games,” he said.
Pearce’s work in the midfield alongside Hedger and Skinner gave the Demons a massive push forward, and the two-way running despite limited numbers was something Pearce said the side prides itself on.
“Being in the mids you have to be that link, a lot of the Tigers were able to double-team our guys in our forward line so we had to get the crumbs, it’s something we work on,” he said.
“We’ve only got six games until finals and … undermanned … we stayed with the top side in the competition for three quarters, so something to work on for next week (against the Parkes Panthers).”
- ORANGE TIGERS 18.9.105 (Tim Barry 7, Caleb Campbell, Tyson Hannus, Dan Sadler, Andrew Nelson, Jaxon Mumme, Mick Evans, Chris Solomon, Chris Pethybridge, Patrick Hakkinen goals) def DUBBO DEMONS 11.6.72 (Tom Budd 5, Bevan Charlton-White, Hamish Pearce, Mitch McKechnie, Joseph Hedger, Liam Smith, Bailey Edmunds goals)