With 13 changes to the side now Nationals are over, the Bushies showed plenty of maturity to carry out their roles in their 11-10 (76) to 8-12 (60) victory.

“It was a really good reward for effort,” Bushrangers coach Darren Ogier said.

“They were pretty strong at the contest and put us under a lot of pressure but our boys were able to withstand that.

“It took until the last five or so minutes but they were able to come through at the end — that’s what we needed to do and they did it really well.

“The main thing is we kept hanging in there and kept coming and got over the top of them in the final quarter where there have been a couple of games we haven’t done that.”

Ogier praised the young Bushrangers’ maturity in weathering the Jets’ attacks, but the team will have to make every game count if they are going to make finals.

“Above the shoulders is a critical component of this game and to do what they did was very promising,” Ogier said.

“We knew we had to be hard at it from the first second of the game to the last and they continued to hang tough — we didn’t drop our heads and didn’t shy away from what was required.

“To beat a team of that calibre was a great effort and will give them more belief going forward.

“We needed a huge effort from everyone — it was a defining game for us.”