WATCH: Dubbo lifts 2024 Astley Cup after strong day two against Bathurst

Dubbo were down by two points at the halfway mark of their tie away to Bathurst High School but fought back on day two by winning three of the four sports on offer to win 9-7.

Bathurst carried a 5-3 lead into day two of the tie but Dubbo were quick to level things back up with a dominant 75-25 win in athletics.

The hosts - needing to win all the remaining three spots - took a big 7-0 win in the hockey to keep their small hopes of winning the cup alive.

However, Dubbo officially wrapped things up when their boys' basketball side won 45-30.

That levelled the tie up at 7-all, putting Dubbo past the six points they needed to take the spoils.

Still, both schools wanted to come away victorious in the tie, which concluded with netball.

The underdog Bathurst team never let their rivals breathe too easily throughout the game though Dubbo held strong for a 46-33 win.

Dubbo school captain Bailey Auld, who was part of the boys soccer and athletics team, was beaming after hoisting the trophy.

"It's just surreal. It's the first time I've had a feeling like this in sports," he said.

"Doing it for my school community and for Dubbo is just next level."

Dubbo had last won the cup in 2021 and prior to that hadn't tasted victory since 2011.

Being a part of two wins in the space of three years was a special feeling for the school captain.

"I think we hit a bit of a rough patch there and it took a bit of a while for us to gel," Auld said.

"I think this is one of the best years I've felt about our chances coming into an Astley Cup beforehand, so I was really looking forward to it this year."

It wasn't the end that Bathurst had hoped for as they unsuccessfully tried to claim their first cup win since 2019.

Bathurst High School principal Ken Barwick said it was nice to see the tie go down to the wire.

"The greatest thing about the trial for the new points system is that going into that last game it was 7-all. Yes, it's about winning the cup overall, but if you don't get that opportunity then you want to try and win the tie," he said.

"To have it come down to the last sport was great. For our netball girls to only go down by 13 points was a really good effort. They fought really hard because they still really wanted to try and win the tie.

"Across the three rounds Dubbo had 20 points, Orange had 16 and we had 12. The team that won the most sports deserves to win the cup, and that's what we got."

Barwick said there's plenty to look forward to in the years to come when it comes to the cup.

"There's some real talent coming through in the year 7, 8 and 9, particularly in the girls events," he said.

"I was really impressed with Lara Glasgow in the athletics and some the girls in the hockey, like Bella Crawford and Poppy Radstone. They're the future of Astley Cup at this school."