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ELMORE finished within two kicks off pulling off what would have been an almighty upset against North Bendigo on Saturday.

The Bloods have endured belting after belting at the hands of the Bulldogs in recent years, but on Saturday gave North Bendigo a scare to such an extent that they were not only in front at half-time, but still held the lead at the final change.

However, five goals to two from the ladder-leading Bulldogs in the last term was enough to thwart the gallant Bloods as North Bendigo dodged a major bullet in finishing 12.19 (91) to 12.10 (82) victors at Elmore.

"With the footy they played today, Elmore should have won the game," North Bendigo coach Matt Dillon said.

"We've played some ordinary patches of footy in games this year, but today was the longest we've been poor for... it looked like we just thought it would be an easy game, we'd turn up and get the four points.

"To Elmore's credit they have improved a lot and their good players played really well. They outworked us with their pressure for most of the day; it wasn't until the last quarter that we started to show some fight."

Gun forward Brady Herdman's six goals were pivotal in the Bulldogs eventually edging over the line.

Herdman was North Bendigo's best, while midfielder Joel Helman was again prominent as he continues to dominate.

Earlier in the day the Bulldogs' reserves also battled to get over the line by 17 points, with the team featuring Lachlan Ford in his first game of the year after being sidelined since late last season with a foot injury.

Elmore coach Danny Brewster was both proud of the valiant effort of his team against an opponent the Bloods had lost their previous five games against by margins of 112, 233 192, 154 and 137 points, but also lamenting the missed opportunity.

"We challenged ourselves at the start of the game to be more competitive than we have been in the past against them... I've been here for five years and we've barely got within 100 points of North," Brewster said.

"It's disappointing we weren't able to come away with the win, but I'm also super proud of the boys. It's one of the best efforts we've had in my five years here."

The Bloods had been four points up at half-time and seven in front at three quarter-time.

Midfielder Rhys Healey, ruckman Nick Page (two goals) and forward Romain Grenville (two goals) led the best for Elmore, whose last win over the Bulldogs still remains in 2011.

Showing their determination to fight the season right out, in their past three games the Bloods have lost to North Bendigo, Mount Pleasant and White Hills by a combined 44 points.

In the three corresponding games in the first half of the season their three losses totaled 272 points.

Colbinabbin scraped past Leitchville-Gunbower by four points in another low-scoring tussle between the two sides.

Back in their round six meeting they combined for just 15 goals; this time there were only 16 kicked as the Grasshoppers won 8.8 (56) to 8.4 (52) at home.

In an action-packed closing to the game, Colbinabbin's Sam Vale put the Grasshoppers back in front by four points at the 30-minute mark after they had surrendered the lead.

However, the result of the game wasn't decided until after the siren when Bombers' forward Tyler Jones had a shot from 50m on the boundary.

Already a tough kick, a heavy footy with the game played in wet conditions following heavy rain at Colbinabbin on Friday added to the challenge for Jones, whose kick landed short.

The Grasshoppers won the game despite enduring a scoreless third quarter, while their grinding win was marred by a season-ending AC Joint injury to midfielder Xavier Walsh.

"He has been one of our better performers this year averaging 25 touches a game as an inside midfielder," Colbinabbin coach Julian Bull said.

"It's going to hurt us big time not having him for the rest of the year."

In a low-scoring game Matt Riordan's three goals were decisive for the Grasshoppers, whose better players featured the duo of Lachlan Ezard and Will Morrow, who between them laid 23 tackles, the hard-working Vale, while their ruck stocks got a boost with the return of Hadleigh Sirett.

Jack Dye (three goals) and Tyler Jones (two goals) were multiple goalkickers for the Bombers, who were well led by Brady Hore off half-back, Matt Pollock and Hoby Bussey, who had a shut-down role on Nick Knight.

"We had our chances in the last quarter... we got a couple of goals up, but with a young side we'll be better for the experience," Bombers coach Danny Teskera said.

"With about half the side under 21 I'm very proud of the boys and the way they went about it... we see a lot of upside for us."

Despite losing the game, the Bombers climbed one rung on the ladder, narrowly edging past Mount Pleasant on percentage into fourth position.

Nine goals between the former Carlton pair of Jed Lamb and Sam Kerridge helped White Hills to a 33-point win over Heathcote.

Lamb bagged five and coach Kerridge four in the Demons' 14.9 (93) to 9.6 (60) win at Heathcote; the result moving White Hills back within a game of the top five.

The Demons set their victory up with a solid first half as they led by 34 points at the main break.

"We started the game really well, which was our big focus going in," Kerridge said.

"It went back and forth a bit in the second half, but credit to our boys to come away with the four points."

White Hills' victory, coupled with Leitchville-Gunbower's loss, keeps the two sides on a collision course for a potential round 18 clash to decide the last spot in the finals.

"It's obviously a big few weeks coming up and we've just got to keep winning to give ourselves the best opportunity," Kerridge said.

White Hills' best was Rhys Irwin off half-back, while Kris Bedford and defender Kaiden Skelton were also among the Demons' better players.

White Hills' 14 goals came from just four players. As well as the contributions from Lamb and Kerridge, Mitch Dole also slotted three and Josh Hopkins kicked two.

The scoreline bucked Heathcote's recent trend of being competitive early and then fading after half-time.

This time the Saints, whose best were led by Louis Picollo and Thomas Pain, were at their best in the second half following a slow start.

Lockington-Bamawm United atoned for its earlier loss in the season to Mount Pleasant, winning their return battle by 42 points.

The Cats won all four quarters on the way to their 17.13 (115) to 11.7 (73) victory at Lockington that featured another standout game from the classy Jarod Bacon (four goals).

"Jarod was outstanding again. He had about 10 shots at goal and had the ball on a string today... he was clearly our best," Cats coach Kahl Oliver said.

"Joss Howlett, who was a reserves footballer last year, has come in and played just about every senior game and was really solid for us down back as well.

"And we gave the job of playing on Ben Weightman to Fraser Monahan and he did a really good job also to keep him to two goals."

As well as Bacon's four goals, Thomas Leech (four), Charles Hinks (three) and Lachlan Collins (two) also kicked multiples.

The Cats will now set themselves for a eagerly-anticipated 1^st v 2^nd clash against North Bendigo at the Bulldogs' Atkins Street fortress next Saturday.

"We had no injuries today and will get Rhys Woodland back next week, which is a big in, so we won't be far off full strength facing North," Oliver said.

On-baller Billy Mahony, inclusion Dan Davie (two goals) and Taig Griffin headed the better players for the Blues, who suffered an early blow with a hamstring injury to ruckman Mitch Bennett.

Cody Green slotted three goals for the Blues.

"I thought our effort was really good today. Losing Mitch hurt, but it created an opportunity for Dan Davie and Jackson Hufer from the under-17s to stand up, which they both did," Blues coach Darren Walsh said.

"What hurt us the most was our turnovers and the 44 points they scored in time-on to our five."

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