Wangaratta hands Wangaratta Rovers their second-biggest loss in clashes

The Pies humbled their fiercest rivals with a 27.10 (172) to 7.9 (51) demolition.

The 170-point win in 2018, during the Hawks' winless wooden spoon, is the only bigger margin.

"We want to start games well, we want to build a mentality where we go on with it," Pies' coach Ben Reid told Radio 3NE minutes after the match.

"Tonight (Saturday) I was really pleased with our last quarter, we were still cracking in all the way to the last second."

The Pies booted six, five and six goals in the first three-quarters respectively, but then embarrassed the top five contenders with a 10-goal masterclass.

Midfielder Abraham Ankers booted his club-high seven goals, Morris medallist Callum Moore nabbed five, while Joe Richards bagged four.

Former Collingwood premiership player Reid kicked only two, while fellow power forward Michael Newton was goalless.

"We played the decoy," Reid laughed of the duo's two-goal haul.

"We let Callum and 'Ab' go to work, if 'Juice' (Newton) and I are pretty quiet, I think that's a reasonable sign, (it means there's) a lot of goalkickers down there, which makes it hard to match up on."

It was the perfect 300-game celebration for Daine Porter, becoming the club's first player to achieve the feat, and it was only fitting he kicked a goal to make the occasion.

Moore was simply magnificent, midfielder Richards dynamic and Ankers unstoppable, while former Wangaratta Rover Chris Knowles continued his strong start.

The stunned Hawks didn't have a multiple goalkicker with former captain Michael Clark the pick as he did everything in his power to halt the onslaught, while fellow defender Cody Schutt and teenager Jace McQuade also tried hard.

Naturally a result like that poses two questions.

The first is who's going to stop Wangaratta?

Granted, it's only two weeks into the season, but the Pies have now hammered premiership contenders Albury by 54 and annihilated another likely finals outfit.

Wodonga is coming off a first round 48-point loss to Albury, so it will have to lift a couple of levels to be competitive in its home Easter Saturday clash against the Pies.

And Rovers will need major improvement to convince outsiders they can feature in the premiership hunt.

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The Hawks are home to Wodonga Raiders on Good Friday.

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