WANGARATTA stormed into finals calculations at the halfway mark of the season after eclipsing Myrtleford by 46 points at Norm Minns Oval on Saturday.
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The Magpies have struck a rich vein of form since breaking through for their first win in round 5.
They recovered from a sluggish opening to be the dominant team for the last three quarters against the Alpine Saints.
Myrtleford, which desperately needed a win to re-boot its season, opened an 18-point lead in the first term with co-coach Brad Murray dangerous up forward.
The first term was a beauty as Wang fought back to level the scores at quarter-time, with the highlight a brilliant running goal from the impressive Liam Harrington.
The game tightened up in the second term, but the Magpies pinched a crucial break through livewire Robbie Hicks.
He kicked two goals in time-on of the second term to put the Magpies 15 points up at half-time.
Hicks followed up five goals against Wodonga by booting 6.3 and taking 10 marks inside forward 50.
Joel Harris and Jesse Smith kicked three each as Wangaratta finished with its highest score of the season.
The Magpies had plenty of drive out of the middle through Jamie Allan (37 possessions), Matt Kelly, Daine Porter, Smith and Harrington.
In defence, they were well served by Jamie Anderson, who was switched onto Murray, Riley Judd and Justin Hoggan.
The Alpine Saints managed just one goal in the third term as the Magpies opened a 40-point lead when Jai Canny kicked the first of the last, but they kicked three goals in a row to get within 22.
Kristan Height and Nathan Cossignani kept pumping the ball into the attacking zone, while Matt Dussin was tireless in the ruck, but the pressure was lifted when the Magpies went coast to coast and Allan goalled against the run of play before Hicks put the icing on the cake.
“Myrtleford came to play and made us pay early,” Wangaratta coach Brendan Cairns said.
“I thought we used the ball pretty well through the middle of the ground.
“The goal is to try and get to 5-5, but Raiders beat us easily and we will need to be at our best.”
Daniel Boyle spent an extended period on the bench with a calf injury, but returned to the field late, while ruckman Jade Cleeland (knee) could return against the Raiders.
Myrtleford co-coach Leigh Corcoran struggled to find positives.
“It just wasn’t the consistent enough effort we needed across the board,” he said.