THE rampaging Golden Square easily disposed of another would-be challenger in the Bendigo Bank Bendigo Football League on Saturday.
This time it was the second-placed Eaglehawk at Canterbury Park that felt the wrath of the Bulldogs.
In what was billed as a blockbuster with the top two teams facing off, the Bulldogs showed their class with a dominant 70-point win to improve their record to 7-0 with a percentage of 255.7, while inflicting the Hawks' second defeat in a row.
Golden Square had more than double the scoring shots and 32 more inside-50s than Eaglehawk as it won 19.19 (133) to 9.9 (63).
"Eaglehawk put a challenge up early, but we were able to get hold of the game and go on to have a good win,'' Golden Square coach Nick Carter said.
The Bulldogs were again far from full strength, with assistant coach Simon Rosa and Mark Lloyd, who were both named in a squad of 23 on Thursday night, not taking their places in the side, and teenager Dale Lowry earning a recall.
While it's only round seven, Golden Square, which hasn't lost a game since June 27 last year, is a raging hot favourite to win a second straight premiership.
Of the other four sides in the top-five, as well as Saturday's 70-point win over the Hawks _ who have now slipped to third _ the Bulldogs have also beaten South Bendigo (second) by 86 points and Kangaroo Flat (fifth) by 72 points in the first seven rounds.
Across their seven games, the Bulldogs' average winning margin is 87 points, while they have won 23 of 28 quarters.
"It's all about remaining focussed on our values,'' Carter said.
"We set benchmarks and structures, so it's about maintaining those, and the guys know that we've had a good win, we've had seven now, but it's all about sticking to the values we signed up to at the start of the year.''
While the Bulldogs are flying at the top of the ladder, the Hawks - who had won their first five matches - have now lost back-to-back games, with Saturday's loss following last week's 41-point defeat to South Bendigo.
In those two losses the Hawks have won just two quarters, and been comprehensively outscored 100-44 in the two last quarters.
From the selected team, the Hawks went into Saturday's game without star midfielder Josh Bowe, who was on crutches with a foot injury, while skipper Brady Herdman returned from a corked calf.
Touted pre-season as the biggest challenger to Golden Square's bid for back-to-back flags, the Hawks have now been showed up in the past two weeks by both of last year's grand finalists.
"We're just behind the top two teams at the moment, simple as that,'' Eaglehawk coach Derrick Filo said.
"Golden Square was very good and is obviously the team to beat, but I reckon over the past three games we've just been really patchy.
"We've got some good players playing below what they are capable of, so the challenge for us is to get everyone up and about and playing good, consistent footy.
"One week we'll have guys playing really good footy, then the next week they will be down.
"The last two weeks have been a kick in the backside and highlighted the areas we need to improve.
"I know we can improve, the challenge is just getting it out of the players.''
Meanwhile, Filo hasn't ruled out the prospect of returning to the seniors this season.
He played a game in the reserves against Castlemaine two weeks ago, after which he quashed any talk of a comeback to the seniors.
However, the 42-year-old - who made his senior debut as a 16-year-old with Castlemaine in 1984 - now appears to have softened his stance on the prospect of yet another return to senior football.
"I don't think I'm going to solve any of the problems, but maybe I could add a bit of leadership out there,'' Filo said.
"But there's a lot of boxes that would need to be ticked first.
"I'm still getting my head around the training aspect of it … it's something I'm thinking about, but I haven't made my mind up.''
Email a friend