BFNL: Hawks too hot for Roos to handle, Brett's 10-goal haul sparks Square

The 18.11 (119) to 6.12 (48) victory kept the Borough's BFNL finals hopes alive.

The Hawks moved into sixth place - one win behind fifth-placed South Bendigo.

Kangaroo Flat made a promising start and kicked 4.3 in the first term - the team's highest-scoring opening quarter of the season.

The inside 50s dried up for the Roos in the second term and the Hawks extended their five-point quarter-time lead to 15 points at the main break.

"The last few times we've played Kangaroo Flat their pressure and intensity around the footy has been really good,'' Eaglehawk coach Travis Matheson said.

"That was the case again this time, particularly in the first half.

"We had to tighten a few things up at half-time and we were able to kick away in the second-half.

"Our defence around the contest wasn't where it needed to be in the first half and Flat were able to get multiple possessions out of the contest.

"We focused on shutting that down and that led to us getting more of the footy."

Wingman Joel Mullen and inside midfielders Noah Wheeler and Billy Evans did the bulk of the damage for the Hawks in the second-half surge, while inside forward 50 they had six multiple goalkickers.

"When we play our best footy that's what it looks like (in terms of a spread of goalkickers,'' Matheson said.

"Our mids tend to roll forward and kick a few goals and then it was good to have Cam McGlashan (two goals) back.

"He played as a deep forward, but as he gets more games under his belt we'll move him up the ground a bit."

The Roos again showed that their best footy can be competitive with the top teams, but their inability to produce that footy for long periods eventually hurts them on the scoreboard.

Sam Barnes, Bryce Franzini, Jake Hywood and Ethan Roberts were best for the gallant Roos, while teenager Jack Barras showed some class inside forward 50, kicking three of his side's six goals.

Golden Square's Joel Brett strengthened his grip on the 2022 Ron Best Medal with a 10-goal haul in the Bulldogs' big win over Maryborough on Saturday.

Brett's best on ground performance was the catalyst for Square's 28.24 (192) to 4.5 (29) win.

He now has 63 goals for the season - 13 in front of nearest rival Rhys Magin.

"Joel had a massive influence on the game,'' Square coach Chris Carter said.

"He's kicked 10 and probably given off another half a dozen and had about 20 possessions."

His partner in crime Jayden Burke kicked five goals for the Dogs, while Jarrod Fitzpatrick and Jack Hickman had big games through the middle of the ground.

"I thought our defensive structure held up well,'' Carter said.

"We let them have a couple of goals in the third quarter, which wasn;t great, but other than that we negated them for most of the day.

"A big focus for us was our forward entries and I thought our ball movement was pretty exceptional all day, which gave us some good looks at goal."

Maryborough could take some solace from the fact the final margin was 45 points less than when the two sides met in round three.

That day the Bulldogs' winning margin was 208 points.

Big man Brady Neill battled hard all day for the young Pies on Saturday, while Tom Myers, Dylan Harberger and Patrick Chard were also named in the home side's best players.

Square plays Eaglehawk at Wade Street next Saturday, while Maryborough faces the daunting task of playing ladder leader Gisborne at Gardiner Reserve.

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