The Saints’ superb double-act in the midfield – Tom Bennetts and Jake May – again laid the platform for victory but they almost shared the star-billing with Temora’s forward line, where Matt Wallis (who kicked eight of their 12 goals), captain Charlie Vallance and Jack Irvine threatened to form a deadly combination. 

The Roos finished with the same number of scoring shots, and the 17.6 (108) to 12.11 (83) result wasn’t the most dominant of Saints’ 11 straight victories. But they did enough throughout to ensure it was never in doubt.

“I don’t think we set the world on fire. They really rebounded well off our turnovers and that’s what cost us. That’s something we can work on and it’s something we’ll have to fix,” North Wagga coach Kirk Hamblin said.

Temora are locked in to finish third. North Wagga were coming off the bye and their hopes of finishing on top are likely to come down to the last round at Marrar in a fortnight. 

“We’ve been trying to time our run and improve every week. But take nothing away from Temora, they’re a really good team and the pressure we faced today was pressure we haven’t faced probably since we played Marrar six weeks ago. It was always going to be a tough game.”

At various times, North Wagga threatened to blow the game open, including four goals in six minutes in the middle of the first quarter, which ultimately assured them of victory. But they weren't allowed to run away with it. 

The Roos kicked goals either side of quarter-time and when Vallance and Wallis went back to back in the middle of the seocnd, they were within seven points before North Wagga re-established a three-goal lead by half-time. 

Apart from one spectacular grab, Daniel Jordan (two goals) was well held by Chris Stacey and Temora’s defence. But on the back of their run, Saints found some other avenues to goal.

Twice in the third quarter they were out to a 28-point lead – after Tom Bennetts kicked his third and James Morris his first. 

In the fourth, the margin was more than six goals after three goals in six minutes, when Lachie Highfield and Kirk Hamblin both kicked their third goals and Corey Watt his first.

But at the other end, Vallance, Irvine and Wallis kept Temora in touch. 

The teams are every chance of meeting again in finals but Hamblin wasn’t getting too concerned about the danger.

“If it was the first week of finals and something like that happened, I’d be worried, but we’ve got a few weeks to sort out any weaknesses we’ve discovered and we’ll work on that at training,” he said.

As well as Bennetts and May, Highfield made a big impression particularly in the first half. 

Temora were strong at the back as well as up forward with Gus McRae heavily involved along with Stacey and Liam Pattison. 

And the Roos sprang a surprise in reserve grade with Tim McAuley playing to test out his shoulder, a day after coach Jake Wooden said they weren’t sure they’d see him again this season. He kicked a goal and was among their best although the Roos were comprehensively beaten.