After defeating Kyabram and District and Hume by 111 and 97 points respectively in their last two representative outings, coach Dale Smith was left powerless against Riverina with a spate of players making themselves unavailable.

The scoreboard could have been worse if Ganmain star James Lawton had kicked straight.

The former SANFL player kicked 3.7 and marked everything that came his way with midfielders Jayden Kotzur and Jamie Maddox ensuring he had plenty of scoring chances.

John Buchanan kicked five majors including three in the first quarter while John Anstee, Brent Rose and Shaun Flanigan were also effective.

Tallangatta ruckman John Willis did his best to stem the flow but the support cast was limited with the exception of Trent Castles, Trent Turner and Ryan Wallace.

Smith said the TDFL was beaten by a better side.

“They were too good for us,” Smith said.

“The boys tried and we could go with them for five or so minutes but then they would just keep running and the floodgates would open.

“Riverina has kept its side together for a couple of years and it shows.”

Willis was the stand-out for Tallangatta and District opposed to Riverina’s Ben Edyvean with the Thurgoona giant called to ruck about 80 per cent of the match.

Riverina coach Matt Hard was pleased to back up last year’s performance against Picola and District south-east at Thurgoona.

“We picked the best 22 players available and they all done themselves very proud,” Hard said.

“We’re pretty proud of the league we play in and we’re associated with and we really want to enhance its reputation I suppose and the only way you can do that is once a year you get to play a game of footy against another league and that’s where you make the statement.

“So we’re pretty happy today that the boys have done that, made a good statement and give the league some recognition.”