Although it was only the Tigers’ second victory in their past 14 trips to BFNL headquarters, coach Luke Beattie was heartened by Kyneton’s team effort.

Spearheaded by a sparkling eight-goal performance from small forward Ethan Foreman and a dour shut-down defensive structure, headed by Harrison Huntley and Jordan Mangan, Kyneton was never headed after the opening moments of the day.

Only Kaiden Antonowicz with three goals was a target up forward for the Bloods as the Tigers romped home on the back of a seven-goal last term blitz to win 20.14 (134) to 11.10 (76).

There were a number of interesting match-ups as the match got underway.

Kyneton’s Huntley towered over Antonowicz but lined up on him deep in South’s forward line, while Mangan picked up South’s big centre half-forward Kieran Strachan.

Hamish Govan lined up on South’s premier midfielder Joel Swatton, but was later shifted onto Will Keck.

The first quarter proved to be the most even of the day. With only a tiny cross breeze blowing towards the pool pocket, Kyneton used it to snatch the lead halfway through the term with Foreman landing his first two majors.

Antonowicz nursed home his first goal, while Brock Harvey replied to Dan Davie’s Tiger goal with a quick South answer.

The first half of the second quarter was ‘O’Sullivan time’. Tom O’Sullivan hammered home Kyneton’s first of the term.

And then brother Max outpaced chasing South defenders on the scoreboard flank for his first before screwing home another as the Tigers started to stretch their lead.

When Jake Ward drove home Kyneton’s seventh in time-on, suddenly the Tigers were 21 points clear.

The Tigers outscored the Bloods six goals to three in the third quarter as Billy Mahoney, Rhys Magin, Foreman and Tommy O’Sullivan piled on majors at the Barnard Street end.

Earlier Strachan had finally broken the Mangan shackles and landed a long, set shot but the Bloods trailed by 37 points at the last change.

Enter again Ethan Foreman. The pacy Kyneton forward was deadly with his set shots, nailing three of his four in the last term from straight kicks with the first landed from the edge of the 50m line.

The lights were on as he nailed his last two. And even though Antonowicz snapped a much-needed South goal from a goalmouth scramble, Huntley had constantly used his height advantage to punch the ball clear especially when caught behind.

 “I told the players as they warmed up that the QEO is the oval where you have to win finals, “ Kyneton coach Luke Beattie said.

“There’s lots of space and the surface is quite unique. I thought that we had a number of players who stood up today and identified themselves as strong finals contenders - if we get there, of course.”