Coach Kirk Hamblin saw the improvement he was after as North Wagga won by 87 points at McPherson Oval, 14.19 (103) to 2.4 (16). 

“It’s probably the first time we’ve played four quarters of football,” Hamblin said. 

“We played real team-oriented, unselfish football, so that was probably the most pleasing thing. A week’s a long time in footy when you lose and the boys were pretty dirty so the way we responded, our pressure acts were through the roof and our tackling was great.”

Hamblin had let his players know that a big drop in ‘pressure acts’ at Temora last week wasn’t acceptable. 

“I think it’s from lack of effort,” he said. “Everyone can tackle, everyone can bump and shepherd and all that sort of stuff.”

FARRER LEAGUE COVERAGE:

So North Wagga hit the ground running back at home, keeping Coleambally scoreless in the first term, and to just two scoring shots in the second.

The 36-point margin at half-time could’ve been greater if it wasn’t for 13 behinds from the Saints.  

“I try not to talk about it too much during a game... but definitely our scoring conversion needs to improve a lot,” Hamblin said. 

It did after half-time, as North Wagga piled on nine goals to Coleambally’s one.

The Blues won more than their share of ball at the clearances but couldn’t match the Saints for outside speed.

And Daniel Jordan led their defence, playing on Dean Pound.

“They beat us in the clearances, it was more our backline was solid-as. Our switch and run from the backline was the best it’s been, there were plenty of handball-receives,” Hamblin said.

A change up forward also paid off, with Alex Grozinger switching to centre-half-forward and Tim Barry playing deep seeing both enjoy their best games of the season. 

Even with wayward kicking early, the Saints were at least able to convert inside-50 opportunities into scoring shots, while limiting Coleambally’s chances at the other end.

Midfielder Lachie Highfield was again outstanding along with Jordan, Hamblin and his brother Chad. 

For Coleambally, James Fallon, Chris Cerato and Tom Morton worked hard throughout.