The Dubbo Demons will get to celebrate what coach Shayne Wilesmith called a 'gutsy win' after besting the Bushranger Rebel's on home turf on Saturday.
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The result will have buoyed the Demons' spirits, who were looking for another big win after missing out on a chance to compete against the Parkes Panthers in the last round of the competition.
"[Missing out on a game] hasn't affected us today, it's made us a lot more hungry and we need to be hungry," Wilesmith said.
"The result shows we can compete, those guys are second or near the top, I feel like we can compete with any of the teams on our day, but we have to show up," Wilesmith said.
"That's what we're striving for."
Both teams struggled to place their kicks on the day, but the Rebels ended up on the losing side of the exchanges, with Dubbo able to hold onto a firm lead by the end of the game.
"Their inaccuracy didn't do them any favours, but a lot of it was about pressure, we put a lot of pressure on them, there wasn't too many easy kicks in the whole day, even for us, that's what we're endeavouring for, that's one of the things we want to push," Wilesmith said.
"We didn't kick real sweet either, it's been a bit of a problem with us, certainly our inaccuracy has cost us where we should have had plenty of scoreboard pressure."
"Once that clicks, it'll be good."
"It's a good, grinding win, they rolled us the first game in Bathurst and there were chances we didn't take then, whereas today, our discipline was pretty good. Little things tend to go your way, which helps."
The Rebels were down a few players and the Demons didn't let them off the hook for coming in undermanned.
"You have to compete against the team that shows up," Wilesmith said.
"Our defence held up very well, we were missing our fullbacks today, Josh Anasis filled those shoes very well, he stood up really well."
"Our back six held us in the game, and allowed us to extend, they gave us a lot of lateral movement, not so much straight down the guts."
"We're always a better team at home. We had blokes that were out today, they'll come back."
But even off the back of two weeks worth of ladder points, the Demons aren't taking the ladder climb lightly, well aware that next week's matchup will be a tough outing.
"We've got a big challenge next week against the Giants, who'll be a struggle."
"This week's been put in the history book and we've got to move forward, certainly the Giants are a contender this year, they don't have any misconceptions that they are certainly potential grand finalists."
Demons 9. 12. 66 def Rebels 4. 14. 38
