They did it in style with the club’s longest serving player, Troy Curtis, declaring his 100th first grade game “probably one of the best wins I’ve played in since I’ve been here.”

Forced to fight back from 19 points down late in the second quarter, North Wagga finished full of running, delighting a big crowd at McPherson Oval with a six-goals-to-one final term, and an 11.11 (77) to 6.15 (51) win. 

In the league’s clash of the titans, North Wagga’s leading lights shone, with Lachie Highfield spearheading a dominant midfield performance, particularly in the second half. 

And defender Daniel Jordan was outstanding in defence for three quarters and only more impressive when he went forward in the last.

“Everyone keeps asking me why I don’t just play DJ forward for four quarters but he’s one of the main reasons our backline operates like it does,” Hamblin said.

“So to have a bloke of that ability to be able to swing forward and kick a few goals, yeah, we’re pretty lucky to have him.”

North Wagga led for the first half-hour of football, but Marrar had control of the game even before they took the lead five minutes into the second quarter.

The Bombers kicked three goals in seven minutes after quarter-time but then added six straight behinds, blowing a chance to build a big lead. 

North Wagga looked like falling victim to the famous Marrar pressure, which had them under the pump. 

But Hamblin kicked a crucial goal before half-time to stay within two kicks, then called on his players to lift.

They did, getting on top in the clearances and controlling the tempo, but struggled to break through up forward, finding just one goal.

The final term opened with a huge hit from Ned Mortimer on Josh Hagar in Saints’ defensive 50 and options opening up at the other end.

Cayden Winter seized the lead for Saints with a goal a couple of minutes later and although Tyler Cunningham missed a chance to claim it back, Saints had all the run. 

Jordan lit up with four strong grabs and a 50 metre goal while Alex Grozinger and Ryan Dean (who finished with three goals) also made the most of the momentum.

“I’m really proud of the boys,” Hamblin said of their second half fightback.

“I’ve got no doubt that last year we probably would’ve rolled over a bit more and let Marrar get right on top and had to fight back.

“It’s the third time this year we’ve been tested and really shown some resilience and stick to the game plan that we want to play.”

Marrar were kept to just one goal in the second half, and that came in the 24^th minute of the last quarter when they were down by 27 points.

On a tough afternoon, the Bombers backline did well under enormous pressure.

Coach Shane Lenon said the game turned just before half-time when a couple of key turnovers gave Saints a sniff.

“You’ve got to give North Wagga credit, they were the better side and were really good defensively,” Lenon said.

“Five minutes before half-time… that was the start of it. Then they were clearly the better side after half-time.

“Jordan down forward – he was very good in the last quarter. And they started to win the ball out of the middle and it can be hard to stop.”

The Bombers missed centre-half-forward Jordan Matthews and often broke down going forward, finding it almost impossible to get the ball in cleanly to key man Brad Turner. 

North Wagga have the bye next week while Marrar need to get back up for a home game against the Northern Jets.