THE Thurgoona juggernaut is rolling along ruthlessly towards September glory after inflicting a 65-point mauling of a severely depleted Barnawartha at Thurgoona on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The impressive 20.13 (133) to 10.8 (68) victory extended the Bulldogs undefeated streak to 14 with four rounds remaining.
The raging flag favourites have now inflicted 71 and 65-point smashings of the Tigers who are still regarded the Bulldogs biggest threat come September.
Both sides were missing key players.
Barnawartha went into the clash severely undermanned missing top-liners in coach Peter Cook and key forward Josh Spence alongside Jacob Schmidt, Matt Ladgrove and Matt McNamara.
IN OTHER NEWS
Both Cook and Spence hurt their calves at training during the week, robbing the Tigers of their two most potent attacking weapons.
Bulldogs coach Brett Doswell was rapt to make a statement against their biggest challenger but was acutely aware the Tigers will be a lot tougher proposition in finals.
"Obviously with Cook and Spence out injured, they were missing a fair bit of firepower up forward," Doswell said.
"Their absence was probably highlighted in that first-half especially where they had a lot of entries inside 50m but didn't have the targets to capitalise.
"Come finals they will be a different proposition and showed glimpses today that they are capable of playing a decent brand of football."
Despite the absence of their key forwards, the Tigers remained within striking distance until midway through the third quarter mainly through the efforts of Cam McNeill, Matt McLinden and Kyle McNamara.
A dubious send-off to Jarrod Williams proved to be the turning point.
With the Tigers one man down, the Bulldogs ran riot to boot seven of the last eight goals of the game.
The classy Sam Cross was the home sides best, racking up plenty of touches and capped a polished display with eight goals.
Michael Rampal, Doswell and and captain Darcy Moore were also damaging.
Cook said he was disappointed to miss the biggest match of the season so far.
"Both Josh and I injured our calves at training," Cook said.
"We were in the contest until Jarrod got sent off and then missed a few opportunities that proved costly.
"To lose by 11 goals is disappointing.
"We played the best team in the league with one man down and the floodgates opened."
- Receive our daily newsletter straight to your inbox each morning from The Border Mail. Sign up here