LANCASTER will play Kyabram District Football League finals after results fell in the club's favour in the penultimate round of home-and-away matches on Saturday.
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The Wombats boosted their percentage from 175.37% to 217.63% with a thumping win over the winless Ardmona that left them in fifth, but Merrigum's loss to Murchison-Toolamba dashed the Bulldogs' final aspirations.With a bye this week, Merrigum are now a game and over 60% in arrears of Lancaster and 45% behind sixth-placed Stanhope, who are both four points ahead of the Bulldogs.
Stanhope, who had a bye on Saturday, are expected to beat Longwood in the final round this Saturday while the result of the Tallygaroopna-Lancaster clash will now have no influence on the make-up of the final six.
X Lancaster, keen to give its percentage a mega boost, kicked 52.32 to 2.1 in a 331-point demolition of the Cats.
The Wombats had 14 individual goalkickers headed by Billy Ryan with 12 and Zac Cerrone and Zaid Besim with seven each.
The Cats’ only two goals for the game came in the second term after Lancaster had booted 14 goals in the first term.
Jack Donnell, dominant big man Besim Besim and Tanner Cerrone were responsible for the one-way traffic with dominant displays.
Caine Atkinson, Charlie Jackson and Isaac Handy were best for the Cats.
X Murchison-Toolamba always held a scoreboard advantage over Merrigum and finished the game slightly stronger to record a 25-point win in the clash at Merrigum.
The Bulldogs had a crack and were led well by Jake Ross, Jack Sinclair, Locky Dillon, David Matthews and Jacob Chessells but the visitors had all the answers.
The Cecchins — Brayden and Luke — were key players in the win for the Grasshoppers, who also had fine contributors in James Lonrigan, Ashton Cashion and Luke Jones.
X Nagambie became the first side to the lower the colours of Tallygaroopna this season with a convincing 54-point win in the clash of the competition’s top two teams at Nagambie.
Tally had some key players missing but the Lakers made the point that the flag is still very much up for grabs with their runaway win ignited by the work of Daniel Haysom, Blake Fothergill, Mark Nolan, Tom Maddern and Damon Carroll.
Veteran Mick Roberts kicked four goals on his return to the side while coach Anthony Haysom also snared four majors to share the finishing-off work.
Tally had triers in Sam Muggleton, Brett Sheriff and Zac Brett but was blown out of the water in the second term by the home side, who kicked eight goals while keeping the visitors goalless.
The win ensured Nagambie would finish in the top two.
X Undera slipped into seventh spot on the ladder with a 79-point win over Shepparton East but hasn't got the percentage to tip Lancaster out of the top six even if the Wombats are beaten by the rebounding Tally this Saturday.
Undera was always in control, with Kaine Herbert, Mitch Kyle, Aaron Cordy and Nic McAuliffe showing the way.
X Rushworth notched its fourth and biggest win for the season, disposing of Longwood by 120 points at Longwood.
Isaiah Johnson continued his great form to kick nine goals and reap the benefits of the work of Joe Thompson, Shaun Young, Dan Newton, Ike Jones and Rob Fonte.
X Avenel was too good for Violet Town in the remaining clash but lost its chance to take a top-two spot for the finals with Nagambie’s defeat of Tally.
X With spots in the top six settled, Lancaster’s bid to become the second team to beat Nagambie this season will hold the most interest in this Saturday’s final home-and-home round.
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