Merrigum has pulled off one of the upsets of the Kyabram District League season, toppling unbeaten Avenel in Saturday’s 11th round.
The Bulldogs took the initiative early and were never headed in a dour struggle in which they prevailed by 14 points.
The Bulldogs kept Avenel to a point in the first half while kicking 4.5 and still led by 14 points at the last change after the Swans had lifted to kick four goals in the third term .
But Merrigum was able to retain its lead in an even last quarter when both sides kicked three goals.
Rhys Shannon, Jake Ross, Jacob Martin were the players to inspire the Merrigum win.Will McDonell, Jacon Chessels, and Jack Sinclair also were prominent but most Bulldogs on the day had input to pull off the boilover.
● In the other blockbuster on Saturday Lancaster, again inspired by skipper and co coach Tom Davies, was too good for Murchison-Toolamba and now remain the only unbeaten side in the competition.
The Wombats unveiled a new recruit in Jake Mills and the former Northcote Park player impressed with a five-goal haul at full-forward.
Tom Davies and his brother, defender Luke, and ruckmen Nic Ryan and Coby O’Neill were up and about all game for the Wombats while Brad Orr on a wing and half-forward turned in his best game for the season.
Murchison-Toolamba had good players in Aidan Lloyd and Steve Burns, James Milne and Luke Cecchin while Tom Kerrins and Ash Cashion made contributions at times.
A lack of a dominant forward hurt the combine but Lancaster coach Corey Carver said the game was more closely fought than the scores indicated.
‘‘They really put it to us and I thought we had a little more run at the end,’’ Carver said.
● Stanhope had too much firepower for cellar-dweller Longwood, romping to a 142-point win.
Nathan O’Reilly and Matt Gill starred again for the Lions along with Daniel Flynn who kicked seven goals.
Danyon Stockdale with four majors and Chris Sanders and Jonathan Pearson with three goals each also put the scoreboard squeeze on the home side.
Other influential players for Stanhope were Jye Patten and Jack Steel.
Ayrton Pierce, Kobe Galvin, Dylan Gordious and Ryan Cumberland with four goals did well for Longwood who kicked three goals in the first quarter and four in the last but were goalless in between.
● Violet Town dominated Rushworth for a 134-point win which kept it well in the finals fight.
The Tigers hung in for a half but with Josh Mellington putting on a goalkicking clinic with 17 goals, the Towners kicked 16 second half goals while holding the home side to two.
Regulars in Ben Cosgriff, Nathan Atley, Sean Horsburgh and James Herring fed the ball forward all day and Mellington obliged on the scoreboard.
Jackson Doyle, Jeremy and Ed Bourke, Kieran Malone and Jack Baker tried hard for Rushworth but couldn’t muster the support to make a game of it.
● In the other games, Nagambie gave Dookie United a footy lesson, Shepparton East had a day out at struggling Tallygaroopna’s expense while Undera got a badly needed win against Ardmona.
Ardmona loaded up with some celebrity names with Brownlow medallist and coach Shane Crawford donning the boots again along with pole vault Olympic goal medallist Steve Hooker and former Carlton player Anthony Franchina.
Ardmona did manage to kick six goals but Brenton Campbell kicked 10 for Undera and along with Cody Tancred, Logan Campbell and Dylan Moncur helped overwhelm the home side.
Nagambie had plenty of good players in their runaway win led by Jamason Daniels, Nic Waterson, Blake Fothergill and Tom Black.
● In this week’s games, it's Avenel against Dookie United, Shepparton East fronting the unbeaten Lancaster, Nagambie taking on Longwood, Stanhope hosting Rushworth, Undera trying to make it two on the trot when it hosts Girgarre while Violet Town is at home to Tally.