The Barooga youngster kicked six goals rotating between full-forward and the ruck with Mark Marriott.

Like many of his teammates, Johnston was particularly damaging in the third quarter with the Bushrangers slamming on 9.4 to 2.3 to break open the match.

The Jets sorely missed big-men Tristan Xerri and Harrison Bult who succumbed to injury during the week.

“It definitely worked in our favour as they lacked a bit of height and weren’t able to cover our talls,” coach Leon Higgins said.

“Daniel Johnston was really good again with his strength in the contest.

“Six goals is a really good effort considering he spent half a game in the ruck and I thought Mark Marriott played well too.”

After leading by 17 points at half-time, the Bushrangers started to dominate around the stoppages with Harry Jones and Ben Paton never far away from the action.

Kyle Clarke, Isaac Wallace and Angus Hicks also picked up plenty of possessions.

“We took control of the middle after struggling around the stoppages early,” Higgins said.

“We were four or five behind at quarter -time, levelled it out at half-time and were six ahead at three quarter-time.

“That was the difference as it gave our forwards opportunities and they were good enough to take them.

“It was a really good quarter.”

The Bushrangers lost small Wangaratta forward Joe Richards to injury.

He failed to appear after half-time with a groin strain and is in doubt for Saturday’s clash against Calder Cannons at Craigieburn.

Western Jets stayed in the match early through Stefan Radovanovic and Xavier O'Halloran.

The Bushrangers have won four of their opening five matches with Higgins bracing for a tough run over the next month.

They play second-placed Sandringham at Wangaratta on May 13.