On the rebound from their first defeat of the season, and playing without several key players, the Bulldogs looked vulnerable against a Kyneton side that had won seven games.

Gisborne put the game to bed with a brilliant opening quarter.

The Dogs kicked 7.4 to 1.2 to set up an impressive 18.11 (119) to 9.6 (60) win.

"We had to (respond)... last week wasn't great,'' Gisborne coach Rob Waters said.

"Training through the week was really good and we were playing our arch-rival on our home ground, so everyone was up and about.

"What makes it special is that Kyneton probably had their best team on the park for quite a while and there was plenty of talk around how well they were going.

"We had our backs to the wall a bit and I thought we responded well to the heat early, put our noses over the footy, won some free kicks our way and played really well.

"We had a really good mix of good players against quality opposition. It was one of our better wins."

Skipper Pat McKenna (calf), star midfielder Brad Bernacki (VFL), ruckman Braidon Blake (knee), key forward Jack Scanlon (shoulder) and Jaidyn Owen (concussion) missed the match for Gisborne.

The Dogs were buoyed by the long-awaited return of ball magnet Ethan Minns, who played his first senior game for nearly three years after overcoming several knee injuries.

Mack Lord, who normally plays on the wing, was moved to defence on Rhys Magin and restricted the Kyneton star to two goals.

Midfielder Luke Ellings' superb form continued, with a swag of possessions and three goals.

On-baller Flynn Lakey and defenders Liam Spear and Liam Rodgers were instrumental in the win and forward Josh Kemp kicked six goals.

The Tigers struggled to find four-quarter contributors.

In-form defender Frazer Driscoll was moved into the midfield to try and spark the Tigers.

Leaders Guy Dickson and Harison Huntley tried hard, but the Tigers couldn't match the midfield grunt of the Bulldogs.

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