A week after toppling East Wagga-Kooringal, the Bushpigs were never behind at Peter Hastie Oval, holding on for an 8.9 (57) to 7.5 (47) victory, despite being without a bench in the last quarter.

Injuries to Jordan Ackland (hamstring, 1^st minute), Dylan McPhail (shoulder, 3^rd quarter) and Vas Seker (head knock, 3^rd quarter) meant they did it the hard way.

“That was a bigger win than anything today,” CSU coach Daniel Athanitis said. 

“I think we just came here ready to work hard again. We trained really hard during the week. They're the fittest they’ve been and they’re using the footy well.”

It wasn’t all that pretty, but it was satisfying. Not since round 10 in 2012 had the Bushpigs enjoyed consecutive victories.

A committed Jets, led by Jade Lucas and Sam Fisher, made the Bushpigs earn it, coming back from two goals down in the first quarter and three goals down in the third to twice draw level. 

But CSU’s intensity paid dividends in the end. 

They made their intentions known early, with two goals in the first five minutes. And they had three on the board when Seker nailed one of his two early shots.

But a Jets fightback meant it took Sam Balding to ensure CSU led at the break.

The second term was notable mostly for the amount of turnovers. After 19 minutes, CSU’s Adam Skow was gifted the only goal of the quarter with two 50-metre penalties. 

Midway through the third quarter, the Jets mounted their challenge. It started with an inspirational Sam Fisher goal and Alex Rogers backed it up from the boundary (despite looking to have marked over the line). 

CSU continued to work hard at the back only to turn it over in the middle and when the Jets’ Aidan Cattle hit Zac Robinson, who goaled, it was all tied up. 

But three of the Bushpigs’ best contributed in one key play. Tennyson Vance intercepted with a strong grab, found Adam Skow who sent it forward, and Rob Herzfeld delivered a classy pick-up to goal on the run.

It was one of plenty of touches for the midfielder and, while CSU’s six-point advantage was only stretched to 10 in the final term, they did enough to hang on. 

“I thought we had the better of it, we just couldn’t capitalise on it when we went forward. We were getting in each other’s way there for a little while,” Athanitis said. 

Some gloss was taken off the win with Skow reported just on quarter-time following an altercation involving the Jets’ Chris Bell. While both were yellow carded, Skow was reported for striking. 

But his impact on the Bushpigs has been significant in their two wins.

“He’s jumped on board this year and just give us some grunt,” Athanitis said.

“We needed some grunt last year. It probably cost us a couple of games near the end of the year and that’s what he provides.

“Look, he crashes the line, he goes pretty hard and gives away a few free kicks but we need that sort of player through there.”