Brock-Burrum too strong for Howlong in Hume league clash despite injury to key tall early in contest

Despite the loss of big man Matt Seiter, who was ruled out at half-time with a knee complaint, the Saints' small forwards did the damage on the scoreboard as they ran out 11.15 (81) to 8.12 (60) victors.

Keith Tallent was a handful for the Spiders with four majors and provided a strong aerial contest in Seiter's absence.

The Saints had the ascendency late in the first term with four goals in the space of five minutes, started by Tallent, to open up a 20-point buffer, but the Spiders pulled two back late through Hamish Clark, the second coming after the siren, to cut the margin to nine.

Just six majors were kicked between the two sides in the second and third quarters as Brock-Burrum extended its 12-point half-time advantage to 18 at the final change thanks to a long bomb from Tyson Neander in the dying stages.

Clint Brunnenmeyer slotted his second in the opening minute of the last quarter to get Howlong back within two straight kicks, but the Saints steadied as Tallent kicked his third and fourth in quick succession to put the game behind doubt at the 13-minute mark.

The performance proved a few critics wrong in Neander's eyes.

"Everyone kept talking about how we'd had a friendly draw and we couldn't compete with the better sides," he said.

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"Our focus was to win the centre clearances and if we did that we'd have a good chance, which worked out to be the case."

Despite key forward John Spencer being held goalless by Josh Senior, the Saints had a great spread of contributors, namely Tallent and Deklan Yates, who finished with three, who made the most of their opportunities.

"He (Tallent) stepped up when Matt (Seiter) went down and he's getting better and better as each week goes by," Neander said.

Darcy I'Anson, Ron Boulton, Brodie Parr and Andrew Sadler were also crucial.

Howlong coach David Miles said his side was well beaten in the midfield.

"We certainly had a fair bit of footy, but we weren't able to get high-percentage shots on goal," he said.

"To their credit, they outworked us in the contest."

Miles rated Senior, Clark, Ben Baker, Sasha Newham and 100-gamer Blake Williams as his side's best.

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