Yet again the Hawks were outstanding early in piling scoreboard pressure on the Demons, with the home side already 86 points up at half-time on the way to a 20.15 (135) to 3.10 (28) victory.

Saturday was the sixth time in their 11 games this season the Hawks have been at least 50 points up at half-time.

“We really focus on getting away like that… no matter who the opposition is we just want to start well and we did that again today,” Huntly coach Jamie Hogan said.

“We knew White Hills would have a fair bit of confidence coming off their good win last week, so we had to stamp our authority early.”

Having 14.12 on the board at half-time, the Hawks were nowhere near as potent in the second half, adding 6.3.

Chris Gleeson booted five goals for the Hawks to be their best player, while Stacy Fiske provided plenty of rebound off half-back.

Luke Semmel (four goals) was also prominent for the Hawks, who have registered back-to-back triple-figure wins having defeated Lockington-Bamawm United by 121 points a week earlier.

Coming off an 84-point win over Mount Pleasant, Saturday’s loss – White Hills’ biggest to Huntly since 1996 – brought the Demons crashing back with a thud.

Jake Dickens, tenacious backman Liam Ireland and Mitch Curtis were the best for the Demons.

• For the second time this season Elmore was left to rue poor kicking at goal against North Bendigo.

The Bulldogs beat the Bloods for the 10th-straight time with their 16.20 (116) to 11.16 (82) victory at Elmore.

The Bloods had four more scoring shots than the Bulldogs at half-time, yet trailed by 21 points – 8.4 to 3.13.

Saturday’s half-time score of 3.13 followed the Bloods having 4.15 on the board against the Bulldogs at half-time when they earlier met in round three.

“It was efficiency again that really hurt us in that first half… around the ground and in front of goal, which was obviously very frustrating,” Elmore coach Alex Gleeson said.

After their poor first half in front of goal, the Bloods straightened up in the second half with 8.3, but by then the horse had bolted.

The Bulldogs – who improved to 9-2 with the 34-point win – were also a tale of two halves as far as their accuracy.

The reigning premiers kicked 8.4 in the first half, but their radar was off target in the second with with 8.16.

Ruckman Ryan Gow continued his good form to be named the Bulldogs’ best player, while Will Gunter and Jordan Ford were also among the standouts.

Sam Barnes (five), Brady Herdman (three) and Luke Buttigieg (three) were all multiple goalkickers for the Bulldogs.

Elmore’s better players were led by Kirk Lang and Travis Mills (three goals).

• Colbinabbin returned to the winner’s list with a 38-point victory over a gallant Heathcote at a boggy Pigeon Park.

Having lost their previous two games, the Grasshoppers won 12.16 (88) to 8.2 (50) in a victory that was set up in the first quarter.

The Grasshoppers led by 27 points at quarter-time, 5.4 to 1.1, before both sides kicked seven goals apiece for the rest of the match.

“At half-time we were tracking along well (8.8 to 2.1), but the third quarter let us down,” Colbinabbin coach Nick Knight said.

“We went away from the things we had been doing well, but full credit to Heathcote, they contested really well.

“They were really tough conditions today… it was old-school footy, so we were just happy to get the win.”

David Price, Cory Jacobs and Shane Murdoch led the better players for the Grasshoppers.

Saturday’s performance against one of the flag contenders was a much improved effort for the Saints – who won the third term 3.1 to 1.5 – given they had lost their previous four matches by an average of 121 points.

“The boys had a red-hot go all day and we used the ball a lot better than we had been, so I was proud of the effort,” Saints coach Paul Kennedy said.

The Saints’ best was Darcy McLean, James Carroll did a fine job on Grant Weeks (three goals) before coming off in the final term, while Rikki Stephens kicked five of Heathcote’s eight goals.

• For the sixth time during what is now a nine-game winning streak Leitchville-Gunbower won by more than 100 points.

This time it was against Lockington-Bamawm United, with the Bombers crushing the Cats 22.20 (152) to 4.3 (27) at Gunbower.

The Bombers raced to a 42-point lead at quarter-time, 8.1 to 1.1, while they also later kicked another eight goals to one during the third term.

Daniel Coates (three goals), the in-form Jackson McEwen, Adam Decicco and Tim Lincoln (four goals) were all solid for the Bombers, while Matt Perri kicked five goals.

The game included a heated melee during the third quarter, which Cats coach Peter Gibbs says should have been handled better by the umpires.

“It went on for quite a while and the disappointing thing is there wasn’t a lot of control from the umpires, which was frustrating,” Gibbs said.

With the defeat the Cats’ losing streak has now reached 20, with it only two years ago the club had at one stage been on a 20-game winning streak.

Rhys Bradley and Darcy McCallum were the best players for the Cats, who had Corey West and Tom Leech – wearing the unusually high number of 80 – make their senior debuts and also feature in the better players.