READ MORE - Huntly v LBU, round 12 | PHOTOS

NORTH Bendigo's 64-point win over White Hills came at a cost on Saturday, with two of the Bulldogs' star players injured.

The Bulldogs continued their domination over the Demons with their 19.15 (129) to 9.11 (65) Heathcote District league victory at Scott Street, but are counting the cost after losing two of their key position pillars in Darcy Richards and premiership captain Jordan Ford.

Richards' day was over before the game had started after injuring a calf in the pre-match warm-up, while Ford, who had been assigned the role on Demons' X-factor Jed Lamb, suffered an ankle injury in the opening minutes.

"We were under pressure down three goals to zip and a couple of key players out; we were probably a bit rattled early," North Bendigo coach Matt Dillon said.

"We couldn't get our hands on the footy and had to re-shuffle things around a bit, but once the game settled and we got our match-ups right we were able to steady and it was a massive effort to be in front at quarter-time."

After being under the pump early the Bulldogs led by one point at quarter-time, before assuming control of the contest with a six-goal to two second term.

And with another four goals to nil in the third term the Bulldogs outscored the Demons 69-17 in the middle two quarters of the game at White Hills.

Once again Joel Helman was a standout for the Bulldogs, impacting the game not only in the midfield, but also inside 50 with three goals.

After winning the Central Murray league medal with the Cohuna Kangas last year, Helman is shaping as one of the top contenders for the Heathcote league's Cheatley Medal this season.

"He played under a bit of duress early in the season, but with his body fit again he's played some super footy over the past four or five weeks." Dillon said.

"He's an absolute bull around the contest; he just crashes and bashes and is super quick too. He's a real powerful footballer that we lacked at times last year."

Shane Harris, who had the run-with role on Demons' coach Sam Kerridge, and skipper Jarrod Findlay (two goals) were also prominent for the Bulldogs in their 12^th win in a row against White Hills.

Zach Alford also continued his consistent season with four goals to be among six multiple goalkickers for the ladder-leaders, who improved to 10-1.

"We didn't play our best footy today and when you dish up what we did against a quality side, you're bound to get a scoreline like that," Kerridge said of the Demons' performance.

"North showed they are the benchmark of the competition; they bat deep with their depth and they showed that today.

"We know our best is competitive with all the sides and we showed that in the first quarter today, but we fell away from what got us in that position."

Lamb (four) and Kris Bedford (two) kicked six of the nine goals for the Demons, whose best was Rohan Bowles.

"Rohan has stepped up from the reserves in the past month and has been playing some super footy," Kerridge said.

"He's one of those old-school role players for the club who does his job week in, week out."

Kerridge - who along with Lamb are the competition's two highest-profile recruits coming straight off Carlton's list - has been locked away by the Demons to continue as coach for a second season next year.

"I've really enjoyed my time here at the club. We've got a great bunch of blokes and I'm really keen to see where this club can go in the future," Kerridge said.

"I think the way we've played at times throughout the year shows we're not too far off.

"Hopefully, we can add a few dimensions over the summer and hit the ground running next year."

A barnstorming first half paved the way for Leitchville-Gunbower to tighten the grip on its top five position with a 53-point win at home over Elmore.

In their 18th-straight victory at Gunbower - the Bombers haven't lost at the ground since 2014 - Leitchville-Gunbower prevailed 16.13 (109) to 8.8 (56).

The Bombers raced to a 40-point lead at quarter-time and by half-time were 60 points in front as they led 86-26 to kill the contest.

Unlike their earlier meeting this year when the Bloods came from 27 points down at half-time to beat the Bombers by five points, this time Elmore had dug itself too deep a hole.

The Bloods did manage to narrowly win both the third and fourth quarters, but the damage had been well and truly done in the first hour by the Bombers.

The Bombers were coached by assistant Liam Guinan, who was sidelined with a calf injury.

"Liam did a sterling job coaching the side today. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a step back, give Liam an opportunity and get a bit of a different perspective from around the ground," Bombers coach Danny Teskera said.

"I was really pleased with the way everyone played their role today."

The Bombers had a spread of 10 players hit the scoreboard, including Jake Vandongen (four), Logan Prout (two), Jack Dye (two) and Darcy Bibby (two), who were all multiple goalkickers.

Midfielder Bibby and young gun Prout headed the best players for the Bombers, who are now 6-5 and with a two-game break inside the top five.

Elmore's tally of eight goals came from three players - Romain Grenville (three), James Harney (three) and Jared Laffy (two).

Dangerous forward Grenville was among the best for the Bloods, along with Tyler Oliver and Bailey Boyack, who continued his consistent season.

Lockington-Bamawm United defeated a Huntly side that played with plenty of competitive spirit.

A blowout result looked a strong possibility given the gaping gulf between the two sides - LBU is in premiership contention; Huntly has just one win - yet the Hawks kept the margin to under seven goals as the Cats won 13.12 (90) to 7.7 (49).

"LBU is a top-two side and we're in the bottom two, but we put in 100 per cent effort and were able to compete reasonably well for the majority of the game," Huntly coach Stacy Fiske said.

"But they were more experienced around the footy and were able to capitalise a bit better going forward.

"I was really proud of the effort over the four quarters.

"We had no bench in the last quarter... they kicked the first couple of goals in the last quarter and we could have just rolled over and let them kick right away, but the boys dug in and we were able to get a couple back."

The main injury concerns out of the game for the Hawks were Jayden Cordy (shoulder), ruckman Alex Daniels (finger) and Bret Quin (ankle).

The best players for the Cats were dominated by defenders - Marcus Angove, Jeremy Mundie, Liam Main and Joe Wolfe.

"Huntly fought really hard today; they set up defensively with a player behind the ball most of the day, which we didn't handle well again early," Cats coach Kahl Oliver said.

"We had a lot of blokes who were just okay; no-one really stood out, but our best players were all mainly in our back six."

While the Cats' back six was solid, down the other end the forward duo of Jacob Gardiner and Thomas Leech slotted four goals each.

Among the best for the Hawks, who shaved almost five goals off their 70-point losing margin to the Cats in round three, was Brad Chalmers in his 100^th game.

"He played some good footy for us today. He's relished the opportunity in the backline and then when Alex and Bret went down he went into the ruck and competed in the last half by himself," Fiske said.

"He competed really well and won plenty of his own footy. His past three weeks have been really impressive."

The victory at Huntly was the Cats' fourth in a row, while the Hawks have now lost seven in a row in what's their longest losing streak since 2011.

Colbinabbin's Nick Knight celebrated his 100th game for the Grasshoppers by winning the Worksafe Medal in Sunday's victory over Heathcote.

For the second week in a row the Grasshoppers were involved in a slog, winning 15.9 (99) to 9.6 (60) in a game played in persistent rain after quarter-time at Heathcote.

Just as they had done in their previous match against Lockington-Bamawm United, the Saints were able to stick with a flag contender for the first half, but unable to go the distance in the Worksafe Game of the Month that featured Geelong captain Joel Selwood and former Carlton star Anthony Koutoufides among the guests.

The Grasshoppers led 40-28 at half-time before adding nine goals to five after the break to defeat the Saints for the 13th-consecutive time and move two games clear inside the top three.

"With the way the conditions were we were able to work on some of the mistakes that we made last week. We were able to break the game open in the second half after a tight first half," Colbinabbin coach Julian Bull said.

The Colbinabbin trio of Matt Riordan (five), Ben Southam (four) and Michael Battista (four) combined for 13 goals for the winners.

The Grasshoppers, who are now 8-3, have a bye next week, but could be strengthened by as many as six inclusions for their next game against Leitchville-Gunbower - Nat Nixon, Daniel Connors, Will Morrow, Sam Bowers and the Hamilton twins, Hugh and Cooper.

The Saints, now 0-10, were best served by Brayden Klemke (two goals), Dylan Robinson and Ben Connelly.

While the Saints were beaten in the seniors, their reserves earlier caused a major boilover in winning their first game of the season with a 28-point victory.

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