READ MORE - Wrap of the four BFNL Good Friday games
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GOLDEN Square extended its winning streak to 37 against Kangaroo Flat following a crushing 72-point victory over the Roos on Saturday.
With a big Easter holiday crowd in position at Wade Street for the only BFNL fixture after four others had been played on Good Friday, the Bulldogs eased away from the Flat at each quarter break.
Inaccuracy was their major concern with just 14 goals landed from 37 scoring shots.
But the Roos couldn't score at the other end as key defender Jon Coe, backed up by Will Lee, kept driving the Bulldogs into attack from the half-back line.
The major interest after half-time was just how many scoring shots the Square would manage as they eventually landed 14.23 (107) to 4.11 (35).
The big man match-up between the Flat's Nick Lang and Square's Matt Compston ended up very even.
But it was at ground level the Square excelled. Jake Thrum, skipper Jack Geary, Sam Brinsmead and Hamish Morcom were the prime movers for the Dogs.
And although the forwards were a tad wayward in their kicking for goal, the ball was in the front half so often it was inevitable a winning score would be posted.
On a very warm autumn afternoon the first quarter was the most even of the match.
Flat's lively forward Dylan Klemm banged home the first major of the match -and his first of three - at the 11-minute mark with the Square's inaccuracy in evidence early on.
Finally Geary and first-gamer Matthew Evans combined to find Jayden Burke and he posted the home side's opening goal at the 17-minute mark.
READ MORE - Saturday scoreboard
After a 'poster' from Lachlan Humphrey, Callum Draper marked just inside the 50m arc at the Wade Street end and drilled the Square's second.
That gave the home side a 10-point lead at quarter-time as their earlier inaccuracy was temporarily sidelined in the second term.
They added 5.5 to the Flat's 1.2 with a more consistent run and spread pattern with Burke, Tom Walters, Evans and Harry Donegan (seconds from the half-time siren) all on target.
Kangaroo Flat's only response came from Matt Clifford after he marked on the 50m line, elected to play on and drilled the Flat's second major.
Thrum and Geary continued to lead the Square in the third term.
They found an unmarked Sam Brinsmead and he steered home a Square goal from 30m out, Thrum marked 45m out and left-footed through another Bulldogs' major before Adam Baird sent a long ball to his skipper and Geary grabbed a great overhead mark to nail Square's 10th goal.
Klemm was the only Flat forward who was able to reply as the 29 degree heat seemed to take its toll on the weary Roos.
The Dogs didn't ease up in the final quarter. Baird steered home a major from a pocket at the Maple Street end with the Flat still goalless since the midway point of the third term.
Finally Klemm gathered a loose ball just in from his coaches' box to nail his third major and Kangaroo Flat's fourth.
Hayden Pyke and Kyle Symons had worked hard for the Flat at ground level, but they were just overwhelmed.
Roo coach Rob Bennett said he wouldn't necessarily ascribe his side's poor form to the hot day.
"We had no-one on the bench for the second half so I thought the boys ran out the game pretty well.
"I was pleased that they did that."
Bennett said big ruckman Nick Lang was "really good again and he led from the front."
Golden Square coach Bernie Haberman said he felt his players' outside run had been decisive over the final quarter-and-a-half and was the factor which allowed his side to break the game open.
"Flat are pretty strong around the stoppages so we knew possession would be hotly contested.
"They have a really good ruckman in Lang, but with Compston (in our side) I felt they probably nullified each other and broke even."
Haberman added that Coe had been great across half-back.
"I'm sure there will be some frustration from their end in the way they took the ball inside 50, but Coe was excellent in the way he set himself up."
The Square coach said Jake Thrum "worked really well and got on the scoreboard too. He's a hard runner and is a really good, smart young player."
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