It was like Christmas in mid-June for Temora coach Jake Wooden on Saturday when the Kangaroos produced a thumping win against East Wagga-Kooringal at Nixon Park.
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Wooden had asked for a response following last week's last-minute loss to North Wagga, and also wanted a first win over a top-three contender, in the last game of the first half of the season.
Both wishes were granted. And they left nothing to chance, charging to an emphatic 11.13 (79) to 3.12 (30) win, a scoreline which was arguably flattering for the Hawks.
"I put it on the group through the week to make sure we bounced back - it could've made us really flat and taken it out of us but we really responded and stepped up, which we needed to because we hadn't beaten a team above us," Wooden said.
"If we're going to be serious about giving it a shake this year, we need to beat those teams. So it was a step in the right direction."
The Kangaroos started with two goals in the first couple of minutes and led by 20 at quarter-time against a misfiring Hawks, who kicked six behinds.
The ladder leaders had Nick Hull back but Ben Absolum, Tom Pocock, Myles Carroll and Ash Hard were all missing from their named team, while James Hodges and Daniel Hitchens were also out.
And they were exposed in the second quarter. Although Temora only kicked 2.3, the Roos dominated play. EWK's only three scoring shots, including their first goal of the game, only came in the last five minutes of the quarter.
They rallied a little after half-time, at least in the contest if not on the scoreboard. But a brilliant piece of play from Sam Jensen inspired Temora. Receiving the ball in his defensive 50, the midfielder found Jacob Turner on a wing, charged up to take the handball and kicked again into their forward line.
Charlie Boyton kicked the goal for a 32-point lead and every teammate stood a foot taller for the rest of the quarter, shutting the Hawks out to go to the last break 10 goals in front. In fact it was Jensen, with a great grab and goal, with the last scoring shot of the term.
The Roos missed four shots to go goalless in the last quarter while the Hawks kicked two, through Hull and a hobbling Chris Ladhams, to reduce the margin to 49 points. Their second loss in three weeks to a top-four team saw EWK relinquish top spot for the first time this year.
Liam Pattison at full-back for Temora and Matt Harpley at full-forward both played after being left out of the named team. Pattison produced a big game on Ladhams while Harpley kicked 3.5 at the other end. Midfielder Colby Poole also had a big game in his return from injury.
Wooden is set to miss a couple of weeks after a hamstring injury early in the second quarter but he enjoyed observing their best game of the year.
"We've thought the last month our back six and midfield have played really well, it was more the forward line we needed to fix up which I think we did today," Wooden said.
"We still kicked quite a few points but we're definitely improving. It's exciting where this group can go."
Temora are at home again next week, hosting CSU, while the Hawks will need to regroup for the trip to Coleambally, with the Blues flying high after back-to-back wins lifted them into the five.
Harry Fitzsimmons worked hard throughout to try to spark the Hawks while Hayden Nelson, Max Tiernan and Harris Mitter could hold their heads high on a tough day.
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