Will Bathurst's era of domination continue in AFL Central West?

The Bathurst clubs will enjoy a home start to the season, with Bushrangers taking on the Dubbo Demons and the Giants welcoming the Orange Tigers to town, and they'll each be favourites for the openers.

It's hard finding new ways to describe the dominance that Bushrangers have demonstrated in the Central West competition.

The top grade side are chasing their 19^th straight grand final appearance this season and a premiership that would be their ninth title - bringing them within one of all-time leaders Tigers.

Bushrangers bring on midfielder Andrew James into the captaincy role this year, which says a lot for the influence and respect he's managed to achieve in a short space of time with the team.

After a positive pre-season he's very keen to lead the side around in 2023.

"I'm very honoured to take the role on this year. This will only be my fifth season with the footy club so it's pretty cool having the opportunity to lead the boys out.

"Bill [Watterson] just wanted a little step back and the boys offered it to me and I was happy to help out. With Alex Davey being a new coach I'm eager to help him out.

"I just can't wait because we've had a big three months of pre-season so it's great knowing that round one is just ahead."

James, like several of his teammates, missed the middle to late portion of the previous season due to injury.

It's made him all the more keen to get back into the swing of things.

"I fractured my finger and ended up missing a third of the season. It would be nice for me to string a few games together because the last couple of years for me have been pretty disrupted," he said.

"We were flying in those first six to seven weeks of last year and then a bunch of us went down, so we had to push hard before the finals started.

"It'll be awesome to start at home. It'll be a big day for the Bushies. The weather's not meant to be great but we're all keen to get the season underway."

Giants have been a team on a mission ever since their 2021 grand final bid wasn't able to take place.

The team would have likely been favourites for that decider if it weren't prevented due to COVID-19 restrictions, and they came out pumped up for the following year's competition.

They brought their best football when it mattered most as they went down to the Bushrangers by just 11 points, coming within reach of preventing their rivals' unbeaten season attempt.

The core of that Giants group makes its return for a new campaign with a new head coach, Shane Broes, ready to provide direction.

One facet of the Giants that won't be changing this season is Bailey Brien once again taking the reins as skipper.

Brien said he's eager to lead the team around after a season of great promise in 2022.

"I'm really keen to lead the boys again because we've been working towards some big things over the past few years. Hopefully we can keep that going and cap it off with a good year," he said.

"I think the boys have gained a lot of confidence over the last two years with making those two grand finals. We'd love to go that one spot better and win the comp this year, and the squad's been looking great at training.

"It's always nice to start the season at home for the Oscar Mann Memorial round. The trip to Dubbo next round will be a good early season test for us.

"Oscar was a big part of our club and a lot of boys were very close with Oscar and his family. It's a great way to start the year."

Giants will be bolstered this season by a couple of graduates from their premiership-winning under 17s side who had to take the long road through the finals to win last year's competition.

"It's a similar squad this year. We've got a couple of boys coming up from the 17s, like Harley Spice and Will Sloan, who will make our side a lot stronger.

"We've picked up another player from Orange, Jayden Nelder, who has made our forward line look taller this year. Other than that we'll have a pretty similar squad."

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