Post-game Sandhurst coach Ashley Connick said he felt as though his side dominated most areas, but not the one stat that mattered most, which was the scoreboard.

He was spot on.

If you looked at the stats without knowing the final score, everything points to Sandhurst winning comfortably.

The Dragons clearly won the possession count (344-288), contested disposals (96-76), clearances (45-36), the inside 50s (54-41), inside 50 marks (20-12) and effective tackles (62-53).

The difference was the Bloods were more efficient inside 50. From 41 inside 50s the Bloods kicked 16 goals, six of those to athletic forward Brock Harvey.

Should South Bendigo qualify for the finals, this win over the Dragons could be the game they look back on fondly.

Individually, the standout players statistically were South's Kaiden Antonowicz and Sandhurst's Hamish Hosking.

In the absence of the club's two premier midfielders - Cooper Leon and coach Nathan Horbury - Antonowicz was superb through the middle of the ground, collecting 25 possessions, six marks, seven clearances and two goals for 142 ranking points.

Hosking played in the ruck all day and had 31 possessions, 18 clearances and 50 hit outs for 157 ranking points.

A 15 minute lapse cost Kyneton dearly in its home loss to Strathfieldsaye.

The Tigers matched the Storm in all the key statistical areas across four quarters, but the final 15 minutes of the first term proved to be critical to the outcome of the game.

The Storm and Tigers had 12 inside 50s each for the first quarter, but the Storm scored 5.4 from those 12 entries to the Tigers' 2.2.

The Storm's five goals came after the Tigers had kicked the first two goals of the match.

Overall, the Storm narrowly won the inside 50 count 52-50, the clearances 37-36, had 45 more possessions (357-312) and took 12 more marks 97-85.

They weren't huge margins, but the Storm's efficiency and ability to hit the scoreboard when they had momentum was the difference between the two teams.

Storm midfielders Cal McCarty and Jake Moorhead combined for 68 possessions, 10 marks, 14 clearances and one goal.

It was encouraging for the Tigers to see Caleb Fisher produce 23 possessions, four marks and four clearances.

On the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction, Fisher reminded the Kyneton faithful of his talent with a solid four-quarter performance.

The team statistic that screams off the page - marks inside 50.

The Bulldogs took 34 marks inside 50 to Maryborough's two - a strong indication of the Bulldogs' ball movement and their potency in attack.

The Bulldogs had 84 inside 50s - a club record this season.

Maryborough won the contested disposal count (147-129) and the clearances (39-36), but once the ball was on the outside the Bulldogs ran riot.

Square had 117 more total possessions (447-330), 135 more uncontested possessions (318-183) and took 134 marks for the game to Maryborough's 69.

The Dogs shared the footy superbly, with 20 of their 22 players collecting double figures in possessions.

Defender Jon Coe (nine) and ruckman Matt Compston (four) were the only players not to reach 10.

In comparison, Maryborough had 10 players with less than 10 touches.

Jake Thrum led the way for Square with 38 possessions, while Jack Hickman continued his good form with 30 disposals and three goals.

Joel Brett had 25 kicks, 12 marks and kicked 10.5 for 194 ranking points.

Aidan Hare filled the stats sheet for the Pies - 47 possessions, 24 contested disposals, nine marks, 17 clearances and 15 tackles for 232 ranking points. Despite the stats line, he wasn't named in Maryborough's top-five best players on the day.

If anyone had doubts about the group of young players coming through Gisborne's ranks, watch the replay of the Dogs' win over Castlemaine.

With Pat McKenna, Jack Scanlon, Brad Bernacki, Josh Kemp, Braidon Blake, Jack Reaper, Jaidyn Owen and Ethan Minns on the sidelines, the Dogs fielded largely an under-23 side and the Gisborne youngsters showed how bright the club's future is with an impressive performance.

The young Dogs' midfield won the clearances 47-23 and Gisborne had more disposals (391-340), more inside 50s (66-31) and more inside 50 marks (18-3).

Midfield trio Flynn Lakey (40 disposals), Seb Bell-Bartels (32) and Luke Ellings (32) were superb for the Dogs, while young forward Harry Thomas had a career-best day with seven goals from 17 touches.

Richmond VFL player Bailey Henderson made a welcome return to the Castlemaine side and he had a big day with 46 possessions, 18 marks and 181 ranking points.

Defender John Watson (38 possessions) and utility Riley Pedretti (31) had good games for the Pies.

It was a tale of two halves for the Hawks and Roos at Canterbury Park.

The young Roos took the game right up to the Borough in the first half and only trailed by 15 points at the main break.

In the first-half they matched the home side in inside 50s (-5) and clearances (-5), despite having 35 less possessions for the half.

Eaglehawk made some adjustments at half-time and its midfield and half-back line took over in the second-half.

The Hawks kicked 10.6 to 1.4 in the second-half on the back of possession dominance.

They ended up winning the total possession count 376-284, had 50 more marks (118-68) and surged clar in clearances (51-34) and inside 50s (52-38).

While the usual suspects - Noah Wheeler (27 possessions) and Billy Evans (24 possessions) - were good again for the Hawks, it was the play of Joel Mullen (26 possessions) and Ben Thompson (26 possessions, nine marks) that would have most pleased the Borough coaching staff.

Liam Collins (28 possessions and nine clearances) was the Roos' best in terms of stats, while the speedy Mitch Rovers (20 touches, seven marks and one goal) was solid.

RANKING POINTS

Aidan Hare (Mb) 232

Joel Brett (GS) 194

Bailey Henderson (Cm) 179

Hamish Hosking (Sh) 157

Luke Ellings (Gis) 145

Jayden Burke (GS) 142

Kaiden Antonowicz (SB) 141

Noah Wheeler (Eh) 140

Sam Graham (Gis) 137

Liam Collins (KF) 135

DISPOSALS

Aidan Hare (Mb) 47

Bailey Henderson (Cm) 46

Flynn Lakey (Gis) 40

John Watson (Cm) 38

Jake Thrum (GS) 38

Jake Moorhead (SS) 35

Coby Perry (Mb) 35

Cal McCarty (SS) 33

Luke Ellings (Gis) 32

Seb Bell-Bartels (Gis) 32

CONTESTED DISPOSALS

Aidan Hare (Mb) 24

Liam Latch (Mb) 20

Flynn Lakey (Gis) 18

Hamish Hosking (Sh) 17

Jake Moorhead (SS) 16

Luke Ellings (Gis) 14

Bailey Henderson (Cm) 14

Coby Perry (Mb) 14

Liam Collins (KF) 13

Cal McCarty (SS) 13

MARKS

Bailey Henderson (Cm) 18

John Watson (Cm) 12

Jayden Burke (GS) 12

Joel Brett (GS) 12

Riley Pedretti (Cm) 11

James Schischka (SS) 11

Riley Wilson (SS) 11

Harry Thomas (Gis) 10

Dylan Hanley (Eh) 10

Jack Geary (GS) 10

CLEARANCES

Hamish Hosking (Sh) 18

Aidan Hare (Mb) 17

James Orr (Kyn) 13

Sam Graham (Gis) 10

Billy Evans (Eh) 9

Liam Collins (KF) 9

Jake Moorhead (SS) 8

Liam Bryne (SB) 8

Luke Ellings (SB) 7

Kaiden Antonowicz (SB) 7

LOOSE BALL GETS

Jake Thrum (GS) 11

Liam Bryne (SB) 11

Seb Bell-Bartels (Gis) 10

Matt Merrett (Gis) 10

Bailey Henderson (Cm) 10

Cal McCarty (SS) 10

Jake Moorhead (SS) 9

Brady Neill (Mb) 9

Terry Reeves (GS) 9

Wil McCaig (SB) 9

HARD BALL GETS

Flynn Lakey (Gis) 8

Liam Bryne (SB) 6

Aidan Hare (Mb) 5

Lachlan Hood (Sh) 5

Jeremy Rodi (Sh) 5

Luke Ellings (Gis) 4

Macklan Lord (Gis) 4

Liam Collins (KF) 4

Cal McCarty (SS) 4

Mason Crozier (Kyn) 4

TACKLES

Aidan Hare (Mb) 16

Matt Panuccio (Gis) 12

Liam Collins (KF) 12

Sam Maher (SB) 11

Ricky Monti (GS) 10

Joel Mullen (Eh) 9

Jayden Hooper (Mb) 9

Zac Pallpratt (Sh) 9

Mitchell Collins (KF) 8

Brock Harvey (SB) 8

SCORE INVOLVEMENTS

Jayden Burke (GS) 14

Joel Brett (GS) 13

Sam Graham (Gis) 10

Joel Mullen (Eh) 10

Jake Thrum (GS) 10

Hamish Morcom (GS) 10

Luke Ellings (Gis) 9

Harry Thomas (Gis) 9

Seb Bell-Bartels (Gis) 8

Matt Merrett (Gis) 8

SPOILS

Andrew Vanheumen (SB) 10

Tanner Nally (Sh) 8

Jake Hywood (KF) 7

Isaiah Miller (SB) 7

Kya Lanfranchi (Mb) 6

Zack Shelton (GS) 6

Tom Myers (Mb) 6

Liam Ireland (Sh) 6

Lachlan Ratcliffe (SS) 5

Harrison Huntley (Kyn) 5

HIT OUTS

Hamish Hosking (Sh) 50

James Orr (Kyn) 45

Nick Lang (KF) 39

Ben Eales (Gis) 32

Brady Neill (Mb) 31

Matt Compston (GS) 27

Jack Lawton (Eh) 23

Sam Nettleton (Cm) 19

Riley Walsh (SB) 18

Jake Postle (Mb) 15

Gisborne - 44

Strathfieldsaye - 40

Golden Square -36

Kyneton - 28

South Bendigo - 28

Eaglehawk - 24

Sandhurst - 20

Kangaroo Flat - 12

Castlemaine - 8

Maryborough - 0

Golden Square v Eaglehawk

Gisborne v Maryborough

South Bendigo v Kyneton

Kangaroo Flat v Sandhurst

Strathfieldsaye v Castlemaine

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