The Lions made a mockery of the theory that they would struggle after a 20-day break by slamming on six goals to one in the opening term on the way to a 16.8 (104) to 5.6 (36) win.

Henry Weddell starred for the victors in the midfield, while youngster Damian Walsh continued his improvement in defence and Daniel Rankin, Mitch Carroll and Matt Rava worked tirelessly in the tough conditions.

Carroll was delighted with the performance.

“We prepared well and I was really happy with the way the boys went about it,” Carroll said.

“Coolamon had been in good form and you couldn’t ask for a better start than what we got,” he said.

Ganmain’s only injury concern is a shoulder problem to forward Daniel Hitchens, but he is expected to be fit after next weekend’s break.

The Hoppers were best served by Ryan Chamberlain and Jamie Maddox.

Collingullie-Ashmont-Kapooka advanced to the preliminary final with a 35-point victory against Wagga Tigers at Narrandera on Saturday.

With Jarrah Maksymow’s pace cutting the opposition to ribbons, the Demons made their move during the third quarter with seven goals to one with Chris Lees, Ben Absolum, Chris Gow, Josh Meiselbach, Ned Mortimer and Caleb Vearing in the thick of the action.

Marc Geppert was the best forward on the ground with five majors.

Coach Shane Lenon said his team set up the win in the second term.

“We were kicking against the breeze and I thought the boys did a fantastic job holding them up before kicking away in the third,” Lenon said.

“It was a good win, but we will need to improve,” he said.

“Unlike the previous week against Coolamon, I thought we had 22 contributors and not 14 or 15.”

Wagga Tigers were brave with John Simpson tagging Brad Aiken out of the match, while Brett Doswell and Josh Gaynor found plenty of the ball in difficult conditions.