Down by 52 points at half-time, the Bloods chipped away at the deficit closing the gap to three straight kicks 20 minutes into the final term.

But the Bulldogs steadied with late majors to Jake Conolan and Jaidyn Owen to ensure their side remained just behind the group of leading teams.

Gisborne set up victory with a dominant first half nailing 12 goals to four and hung on in gritty fashion to win 17.17 (119) to 12.13 (85).

Unlike in previous rounds there was barely a breath of wind at the QEO but it didn’t matter to the visiting Dogs, kicking to the Barnard Street end, who scored five goals to three in the opening term.

Thomas Wood, Ollie Clough and Daniel Weaver all booted important majors for Gisborne, while Kaiden Antonowicz nailed the first two of his six goals for the day and fed off a pass to promoted under-18 player Mitch Goodwin for another.

The Bulldogs then set up their eventual victory with a seven-goal-to-one second term.

After Seb Bell-Bartels had run into an open city end goal square, Conolan landed one of the goals-of-the-day. He screwed home an around- the-body shot from the scoreboard pocket which split the big sticks.

It took the Bloods until the 21-minute mark with an Antonowicz shot which just sneaked home to score a major.

Conolan promptly replied with a rolling, grubbered ball to post Gisborne’s 12th goal.

South looked a lot more switched-on in the third term adding 4.5 to 1.2. Liam Bartels, shaking the Jack Reaper match-up, and Mitch Rogerson sparked the revival.

Antonowicz hauled in the mark-of-the-day as he soared over two Dogs’ defenders to land a Bloods’ goal while Lachlan Furness got another.

The Dogs were still five goals ahead as the last quarter started but the Bloods were coming. 

After Joel Swatton had nailed a set shot and Antonowicz had banged home his fifth goal, suddenly the gap was just 18 points: 72-90.

Sensing the danger Conolan steered home a long shot for the Dogs from the scoreboard pocket, while Jaidyn Owen ran into an open city end goalmouth and those two majors proved to be the two steadiers.

Weaver wrapped up the four premiership points with a rolling, bouncing shot which skidded through.

Playing coach Clinton Young, who spent the last quarter-and-a-bit sidelined with a calf strain, said Gisborne had a wide range of goalkickers (10 on Saturday) which made the side unpredictable for opponents.

“All season we haven’t had one goalkicker who’s dominated any game so it makes us a bit unpredictable with our even spread.”

South coach Brady Childs said the first half had been “a pure disappointment” and the game overall had shown where South was as a senior side.

“We can be really good for one quarter as we showed in the third term but then we can be terrible in the rest so that’s the difference between our best and our worst footy.”

The Bloods host Kyneton at the next Saturday, while Gisborne is away to Kangaroo Flat.