Baker delights home crowd again and secures cup victory for College

The Dubbo College student was the star again for his school, being named best and fairest following the Astley Cup rugby league match.

Baker had a hand in three of Dubbo's five tries as they came away 24-6 victors, securing the Astley Cup tie against Orange High School.

In front of a strong and vocal crowd at Apex Oval, the Dubbo College playmaker kept his cool and things paid off in a big way.

"I thought my kicking game was good, I was able to control things and stay calm," he said.

"It's a big crowd, it was pretty hard to stay calm but I managed to do it and tell the boys what to do and where to go."

Ty Powell opened the scoring for the hosts before a clever set play found Max McAneney in open space and the speedster burnt several defenders to score.

Then it was Baker's turn to shine.

After being rushed on the last tackle, the halfback stepped off his left foot and ran down the blindside before putting up a chip kick for himself.

He soon regathered before firing a pass to his right leading to another McAneney try.

"I don't know if it's luck or skill but we ended up scoring from it," Baker said of the play.

Just before half-time Orange hit back with a try of their own but captain Angus Thompson said they weren't at their best during the 60-minute performance.

"We just had silly play the balls and rushed things a little," he said.

"We've got to train for that, we have a school footy game next week so hopefully we can improve for that.

"It's the middle of the season so boys are all fit but Dubbo came out and wanted it more than us."

Baker was the first player to score after the break before a late Dubbo try sealed a strong win and was named player of the match for his school.

Callum Miskell was named Orange's best player.

The victory in rugby league also meant Dubbo secured victory in the Astley Cup tie after Orange won the girl's hockey earlier in the day 9-0.