EMERGING force Rand-Walbundrie sent CDHBU tumbling from the top six with a 70-point win at Coreen on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tigers flew out of the blocks with eight goals to one and were never seriously challenged as they cruised to a 21.10 (136) to 10.6 (66) victory.
Eastlake recruits Dean Roulstone and Mark Kimball led the onslaught with nine goals between them.
Will Swift, Luke Emmerton and Justin Gordon were also important and created plenty of opportunities for the Tiger forwards.
The Power struggled in attack after they went into the clash without key forward Luke Cowan, who missed with a shoulder injury.
It also lost strong marking forward Doug Lavis in the first half.
Their loss robbed the home team of its two main avenues to goal.
Both teams had only one player on the bench in the second half, with the Power’s Nathan Rhodes, and Tigers Shaun Allan and Ben Maiden suffering game-ending injuries.
The Power slipped to seventh with a 5-5 record.
The Tigers have a stranglehold on a top-two finish with a 9-2 record and can consolidate their lofty standing in the next month with matches against Lockhart Culcairn and Walla.
After the addition of seven new faces over the summer, Tigers coach Daniel Athanitis said his team was finally starting to click.
“It was a huge danger match for us, especially at Coreen,” Athanitis said.
“They were probably undermanned and missing some key personnel but we had to take advantage of that.
“The key is we are starting to click — it was always going to take a bit of time after we brought in seven new players.
“We haven’t dropped many games while we were taking time to gel.
“The last three weeks we have gone to another level and are starting to play the sort of football we are capable of.”