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REIGNING premier Mitiamo asserted its authority in the second half to run over the top of Marong and retain top spot in the Loddon Valley league on Saturday.

Both teams went into the match of the round at Mitiamo unbeaten and it was the Superoos who kept their unblemished record intact with their 14.11 (95) to 7.9 (51) victory.

The Panthers held a nine-point buffer at half-time as they led 5.5 to 4.2.

By three quarter-time the Superoos had levelled the scores at 7.8 apiece, before scorching the visitors with a 7.3 to 0.1 last term to run away with a comfortable 44-point victory.

For the Superoos it was their first opportunity for the year to test themselves against one of their fellow "big four" and they passed with flying colours.

Defender Max Simpon was named best for the Superoos. Mitiamo also got strong games from two of its key midfielders in Lucas Matthews (two goals) and Lee Dale, who were missing one of their fellow prime movers in the injured Doug Thomas (hamstring).

Co-coach Tyrone Downie (four) and fellow forward Ryan Wellington (three) combined for seven of the Superoos' 14 goals.

Overall, the Superoos outscored the Panthers 10.9 to 2.4 after half-time.

"They beat us up around the ball after half-time. Miti was quite physical and shut our run down and got on top of us in the ruck," Marong coach Linton Jacobs said.

"We had about 15 inside 50s in the third quarter, but couldn't get any reward on the scoreboard... when we had the momentum we couldn't score and when they had it they did.

"They wore us down physically after half-time."

With both Justin Hynes (injured) and Adrian Pappin (suspended) sidelined, the Panthers played Richard Tibbett in the ruck. He had a big job against the Superoos' trio of Michael I'Anson, Nathan Twigg and Braydan Riddell.

In a blow Tibbett hurt his ankle in the third quarter, while the Panthers also have injury concerns to Cory Jacobs (hamstring), Zach Turnbull (hamstring) and Adam Ward (foot).

"Tibby's first half was really good for us and him going down in the third quarter hurt," Jacobs said.

"Nathan Devanny and Corey Gregg were both really good for us in the midfield and ran all day, David Johnstone played a good game off half-back and I thought Jake Ede did a pretty good job on Tigga (Downie)."

Pyramid Hill returned to the winner's list as it kept Maiden Gully goal-less in the second half.

The Bulldogs were in front by 15 points at half-time, but by the final siren their advantage had ballooned out to 73 points as they prevailed 16.19 (115) to 6.6 (42) at home.

The Bulldogs kicked 8.12 to 0.2 after half-time, with their win featuring a best-on-ground performance from Matt Ladson, who continued his superb season.

Scott Mann and consistent on-baller Bailey Micevski were also prominent for the Bulldogs, who had in-form key forward Braidy Dickens kick five goals.

The pace of Matt Klein-Breteler troubled the Eagles and he also impacted the scoreboard with four goals.

Maiden Gully YCW being outscored 60-2 in the second half comes on the back of Marong outscoring the Eagles 101-30 after the main break in their previous game.

Eagles coach Wayne Mitrovic - who pulled the boots on again and kicked two goals in the first term - said his side was let down by poor skill execution the longer the game wore on.

"We competed really well in the first half, but we fell away," Mitrovic said.

"The effort was there, but it's the ball-use that let us down. We continually missed targets and gave the ball back to them.

"I don't know whether we need to go back to Auskick tomorrow morning to learn how to kick again, but it was pretty ordinary today."

The Eagles, who are now 2-2, named Grayson Brown their best player.

"After quarter-time we moved Grayson on to Braidy Dickens and I thought he did a good job," Mitrovic said.

"And young Ed Crisp played at centre half-back on Mitch Cheesman and I thought he did well also."

It gets no easier for the Eagles over the next fortnight with back-to-back games against the undefeated Mitiamo and Bridgewater to come.

Bridgewater kicked its second score above 200 from its four games this season in a 179-point hammering at home of Calivil United.

The Mean Machine romped to a 31.16 (202) to 3.5 (23) win as the Demons' arduous season continued.

Showing the spike in Bridgewater and decline in former powerhouse Calivil United since the LVFNL's 2019 season, Saturday's result was a 265-point turnaround on their previous meeting, which the Demons had won by 86 points.

The Mean Machine were at their most brutal in the second quarter when they piled on 13.4 to 0.1, continuing a trend of the Demons being scored particularly heavily against in second terms.

The Demons have been outscored 263-2 in their five second quarters so far.

For the Mean Machine, their tally of 31 goals were kicked by seven players - Alex Powell (seven), Josh Martyn (six), Andrew Collins (four), Liam Jacques (four), Lloyd Needs (four), Jarrod Fitzpatrick (three) and Harry McKinley (three).

"It is exciting when we look at our forward line and see that we've genuinely got four blokes who are capable of kicking a bag on their day and we're seeing them start to really work well together," Bridgewater co-coach Jayden Donaldson said.

"From our point of view it's really good to see multiple players kicking fours, fives and sixes and not being reliant on just one forward."

With his seven-goal haul, tall forward Powell was the Mean Machine's best player.

"Powelly was sensational. He marked everything that went near him and had an unbelievable game," Donaldson said.

"Our midfielders Liam Jacques and Jarrod Fitzpatrick not only racked up possessions, but hit the scoreboard as well, and I thought Andy Collins was brilliant and all class when he had the ball."

On another tough day for the Demons, assistant coach Brady Childs battled manfully in the midfield to be their best and also kicked one of their three goals.

"Brady has been enormous for us. His experience is instrumental for not just our young group, but myself as coach as well," Demons coach Glen Scholtes said.

"He knows where the club is at and is really leading from the front with the young midfield that he is taking under his wing and he is speaking really well about focusing on the positives."

Bears Lagoon-Serpentine moved into the top five as it evened its season record at 2-2 with a 23-point win over Newbridge.

The Bears won 12.10 (82) to 9.5 (59) at Newbridge, consigning the Maroons to their first 0-5 start to a season since 1998.

"We started each quarter off okay, but then took our foot off the pedal and let them kick some goals... that was the pattern of the game," Bears' coach Greg Gadsden said.

"We were a bit undermanned today and needed a couple of guys to come up out of the twos and play in the ones as well, which didn't help our cause.

"To Newbridge's credit, they played some good passages of footy and have some good young kids, so we're happy to come away with the win."

Ryan Prendergast at centre half-back was a standout for the Bears and midfielder Tannar Cerrone capped a strong game with three goals.

Assistant coach Harry Whittle (four goals) and Ryan Burt led the better players for the Maroons.

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