ORANGE Tigers have won the inaugural Long-Byrne Trophy with their 27-point victory over Bathurst on Saturday their first against the Bushrangers since the club was formed in 2004.

The Tigers recorded a 14.20 (104) to 11.11 (77) win at Bloomfield in the biggest victory the Orange side have had in the past few seasons.

Saturday’s win also sees the Tigers sit alone on the top of the Central West AFL ladder following the opening two rounds.

Tigers coach Craig Donaldson was overjoyed following the milestone victory over Bathurst and he believes the result against the 2007 grand finalists shows his side are bona fide contenders this season.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” Donaldson said. “It obviously had the pressure of a grand final being the rivalry match.

“It shows that we are going to be dead serious this season.”

Bushrangers captain-coach Steve Withers was disappointed with the loss after they recorded a solid win over Cowra in the first round.

“It was always going to be tough after (the Tigers) had a big win last week, they’ve obviously improved on last year, so this was always going to be a test,” Withers said.

Bathurst led 27-17 at quarter time but things could have been much different if the Tigers could have kicked straight. The home side started the game with four behinds, squandering a number of early opportunities.

However, they were able to atone for the early misses in the second stanza when the Tigers hit the accelerator booting seven goals to one to set up the win.

The Tigers held a 29-point lead at the main break and built on it early in the third term kicking the opening three goals of the period.

But Bathurst clawed back in the latter stages of the quarter to go into the last change four goals down.

The fourth quarter was a tense affair but the Tigers were able to hang on for a 27-point victory.

Full-forward Nic Freedman backed up his haul of 10 against Young with seven against Bathurst, while poor goal kicking didn’t stop Ray Doolan from taking out best on ground.

Orange now faces defending premiers Dubbo next Saturday and Donaldson knows this will be a true test of how his competition-leading side is going.

Dubbo’s title defence hit a barrier on Saturday when Cowra beat them by 44 points.

And Parkes have broken through for their first win back in the CWAFL with a 63-point victory over Young.