
Wodonga emerged as a genuine finals chance after producing the round's most accurate winning display against Corowa-Rutherglen on Saturday.
The Bulldogs bolted to a 26-point lead at quarter-time and then added only another four behinds in their 14.8 (92) to 8.8 (56) home win.
"That's something that we probably haven't been too happy with (the slow starts), last week we were pretty good (in the shock win over Lavington) and this week we were even better," delighted coach Jordan Taylor suggested.
Successive wins have been extremely rare for the Bulldogs in recent years and they hold the league's longest current finals drought of 12 years.
However, the club sits just a win outside the top five at the halfway mark of the season.
It must be noted though that, due to COVID, the league is still yet to complete a full round.
The scheduled round nine and 11 have been played since the resumption, with round eight to be played this Saturday.
Wodonga is away to Wangaratta Rovers and while the visitors will start outsiders, they will carry some confidence, given their recent form.
The Bulldogs' resurgence from claiming the wooden spoon with just the one win in 2019 to its four-five record is one of the league's feel-good stories.
The loser of the Bulldogs-Roos clash was realistically out of the running for finals, so Wodonga's effort under a pressure it hasn't experienced for at least four years was wonderful.
"Our engagement and pressure around the footy was probably better than what we've seen," Taylor added.
The Bulldogs had the match by half-time, kicking nine goals to only one.
The classy Ethan Redcliffe has worked his way into equal third on the goalkickers after bagging another three, while Kade Mimmo also snared three.
Mimmo was outstanding, while young captain Ollie Greenhill backed up his super effort against Lavington.
The courageous Zac Brain excelled, while livewire Cody Szust, on-baller Josh Mathey and Adam Jorgensen also featured.
Former Ballarat and Mornington Peninsula Nepean Team of the Year member Kyle Docherty booted three goals and is now sixth in the race for the Doug Strang Medal with 22.
Matt Grantham landed a double and was in the best, along with consistent ruckman Tom Goodwin, Damien Wilson and Charlie Nastasi.
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The Roos entered the season with just five wins in the previous four seasons and while they would have settled for three wins from nine rounds if offered prior to the season, the fact they've now lost four straight has taken away some gloss.
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