Here's what each school has to do to win the Astley Cup

As Bathurst High School welcomes Dubbo Senior College to the city this Wednesday and Thursday their Astley Cup fates rest in their own hands, while Orange High School watches on hoping that things fall in their favour.

Orange defeated Bathurst 11-5 in their opening tie before Dubbo took down Orange by that same scoreline last week.

Things get extra spicy in the race for the cup if Bathurst manages to beat Dubbo this week.

In the first year trialling a new scoring system there's the outside possibility that the setup could yield a three-way tie, something which hasn't occurred for a century.

Bathurst High School prinicipal Ken Barwick is excited to see how the final tie unfolds.

"I think the home ground advantage has been playing a significant role this year," he said.

"Orange obviously accounted for us 11-5 but in that score there were three draws. If a couple of things go our way then the score could have easily been 8-all."

How Dubbo can win

No school has a simpler winning equation than Dubbo.

If they beat Bathurst this week, no matter the margin, then the cup is theirs.

They'll be big favourites to do just that after they accounted for Orange, who themselves were too strong for Bathurst.

Barwick said there's a chance things could come down to the wire against the visitors.

"I think we'll do extremely well in the tennis and the rugby league. I think we'll be strong in Basketball," he said.

"I certainly think netball will be difficult, given Dubbo beat Orange after Orange had easily accounted for us. That's exact same thing that happened in athletics.

"We'll win the hockey so in my opinion it'll come down to the boys and girls' soccer. Whoever wins those could end up winning the cup."

How Bathurst can win

Bathurst needs to win big... 12-4 or better, to be exact.

If that scenario happens then all three schools will have won one tie each, but the countback on total points would put Bathurst on 17.

That's the magic number Bathurst need to chase, which means they can't lose three sports out of the eight on offer.

It's a tough ask but not out of the realms of possibility.

How Orange can win

The only way Orange can now lift the trophy is by lifting it alongside Bathurst and Dubbo.

That's right - Orange need Bathurst to win 11-5 over Dubbo to share in the spoils and produce a remarkable three-way tie.

"If it ends up a three-way draw what an amazing result that would be," Barwick said.

"There's been no decision on using a countback system so all three schools would be declared the winners, though because Orange are the holders they would still hold onto the cup for another year."

Barwick said it's never been a consideration to use the old point scoring system as a tiebreaker method.

"I think it's ridiculous that after we move to a new scoring system that we would go back to the old scoring system in the case of a tie," he said.

"Last week Dubbo was four from four after the opening day but only led by 80 points. The next morning Orange won the hockey 9-0, which meant they would have been ahead despite losing four of the five sports.

"That's a clear example of why the new scoring system is fair to everyone."