North Gippsland FNL Round 10 review

Cowwarr kept its finals hopes alive with a 51-point win over Gormandale at home.

The seventh-placed Saints remain two wins outside the top five after their 15.16 (106) to 8.7 (55) victory.

After booting four goals to two in the first quarter, the Saints added 10 in the next two terms while keeping the Magpies goal-less.

With Cowwarr leading by 81 points at the final change, Glengarry played its best football in the fourth quarter, kicking six goals to one.

Siaosi Lay-Blake was best-on-ground for the Saints, with Shane Morgan kicking five goals and Pat Tainsh four.

Xavier Taylor was the Magpies’ best player.

Led by the ageless Brendan Holt and the return of Ben Kearns, Churchill overcame a fired-up Sale City to record an impressive win at Gaskin Park on Saturday, 14.11 (95) to 13.12 (88).

The Bulldogs managed the first two goals of the game through Brad McKay and Troy Castairs before Holt registered the Cougars' first.

This was countered immediately by City coach Jacob Schuback who was already on his way to a best on ground performance.

After another couple of strong marks the Dogs' bench had seen enough and relieved Jake Main of his role on Holt.

As much as replacement Brad Fleay tried, Holt was instrumental in a second half comeback that had the home side storm home from as much as five goals down to win by seven points.

The third quarter kicked off under a cloud of confusion as umpires retrospectively removed Bulldog Kody Richards for the game and Churchill's Kurt Holt for 15 minutes after an incident was missed by all three central umpires but picked up by an eagle-eyed boundary umpire.

It seemed Kurt Holt was the victim of mistaken identity, however, as it was teammate Luke Brereton who was involved in the tangle with Richards.

The third quarter was a real arm wrestle but when Cougar Leigh McDonald reduced the margin to two goals coming into the last break it was game on.

City moved Justin Mclay behind the ball to stem the tide but lost his drive through the middle as a result.

City coach Schuback extended his team's lead to 20 points to start the last term and a Bulldog triumph looked assured.

Enter Cougar forward Ben Kearns who slammed home his fourth and fifth goals for the match to spark the home side into action with five of the game's last six majors to grab the win.

Rosedale moved a game clear of a logjam in the middle of the North Gippsland football ladder by winning at Heyfield on Saturday.

The Blues remain in third place after their 16.8 (104) to 9.8 (62) victory over the Kangaroos.

The teams went into the match level on points, with the Blues gaining the break and leaving the Kangaroos in sixth, still outside the top five on percentage.

Brad Scott was outstanding across half-forward for the Blues, kicking two goals, while full forward Brandon McDonald continued his great form in front of goal, booting five majors.

Joel Bristow led a solid defence.

Rohan Diamond, Tom Anderson and Riley Atlee helped the Blues gain control of a fascinating midfield battle in which James Conway, Jack Woodland and Matt Bedggood performed strongly for Heyfield.

Charlie Driffield kicked three goals, while Mark Johnston tested the Kangaroos defence, finishing with two majors.

Defenders Scott Anderson and Trent Anderson did well under Rosedale's attacking pressure.

Despite having one less scoring shot, the Blues led by four points at quarter-time. The visitors kicked away in the second term, booting seven goals to three to lead by 29 points at half-time.

The Blues edged away with a three-goal to two third term, before adding three goals to the Kangaroos' two in the fourth quarter to win by 42 points.

Yarram registered a breezy win over Traralgon-Tyers United to reaffirm their standing as real contenders for back-to-back flags at the weekend, 16.15 (111) to 7.9 (51).

The Bombers went with the visitors for the best part of three quarters but were shown up in the last as the Demons hit their indomitable best and piled on nine goals to storm home with a 60-point win.

Jarryd Swift kicked four goals for Yarram in the victory while Liam Farley, Jake Mcfarland and Ben Vardy each bagged two.

Farley was named best on ground in his team's first Gippsland Pride Cup fixture, however, TTU took honours on the day across football and netball, 5-4.

Also among the best for the Demons in the win were Chris Coulthard, Chris Bruns and Louis Rodaughan.

Woodside cruised home to a 105-point victory over a winless Gormandale side on Saturday, 19.15 (129) to 3.6 (24).

Ryan Foat enjoyed the spoils for the Wildcats and finished with seven goals, Izayah Speer kicked four, Gary Jones three, Daniel Missen two and singles went to Sam Fulton, Thomas King and Jeremy Morgan.

For Gormandale, Josh Woods kicked two goals.