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central highlands flThe Courier |

THE last time former Hawthorn forward Tim Boyle played in a competitive match of football, he left the field with an injury that ended his AFL career.

bungaree fcThe Courier |
BUNGAREE has been dealt a significant blow with the news gun onballer James Sullivan is on the move

learmonth fcThe Courier |
RYAN Barnes played the hero as Learmonth inflicted a cruel blow on Creswick on Saturday afternoon.

learmonth fcThe Courier |
IT'S hard to quantify how strong John Northey's influence at Learmonth has been.

GORDON 17.19 (121)

CLUNES 10.7 (57)

The home side restricted the Magpies to a single point in the last term, all while kicking five goals itself to notch up a comprehensive victory.

There were moments where Clunes gained the ascendency, including consecutive goals late in the third term when it breached the gap to within 13 points, but the Magpies were unable to withstand a ferocious response from their opponents.

Slippery conditions failed to stifle a well-oiled Gordon unit, which used the ball with precision and played the majority of the game on its own terms.

The Eagles proved too good in all the important categories for wet weather football, including contested ball, forward entries and, most importantly, scoreboard pressure.

Gordon Coach Corey Grills said he was pleased with his players' grunt work.

"We saw it as a real challenge, playing in the wet," Grills said.

"We battled to win every contest, which is something that I'm really happy with."

With a mix thus far of convincing victories and competitive defeats, it now appears clear that Gordon is to be taken seriously as a finals contender this season.

When asked whether he was pleased with his team's form, the answer from Grills was a firm yes.

"I'm really happy with the way we've been playing."

"I wanted a group that would attack each contest. So far, they're doing that."

After giving up seven goals in the opening quarter, it's a credit to Clunes that it managed to claw itself back to within striking distance in the third.

In the end, a poor final term dashed what could have been a crucial victory for the Magpies.

Coach Justin Johns said the poor start put his team on the back foot from the outset.

"They smashed us early, especially with their spread and forward entries," he said.

"I thought we were a chance at three quarter time, but then they kicked a couple early and it was just junk time from there."

Small forward Mick Nolan was brilliant for Gordon, kicking five goals in an excellent display, while Matthew Raworth was exemplary through the midfield.

For the Magpies, rover Brenden Chugg worked tirelessly up and down the ground, while Michael Milne performed admirably in defence.

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ROKEWOOD-CORINDHAP 12.15 (87)

ILLABROOK 7.7 (49)

The Grasshoppers set up the result in the first term and controlled the contest for much of the afternoon to prevail 12.15 (87) to 7.7 (49) at Smythesdale.

Rokewood-Corindhap broke away to a 29-point lead at the first change, and although there were some periods of dominance by the Bulldogs in the second and final terms, the result never appeared in doubt.

Grasshoppers coach Heath Anderson said his team played its best football of the season in patches during the day.

"It was important to get that win. Hopefully it will be good for the confidence of the playing group from now and I hope we can build on it," Anderson, who recorded his first win as coach of the club, said.

The Grasshoppers were led all day by midfielder Ross Arnall and ruckman Jono Willey, while up forward young Caius Barrenger added four goals to his three in the under-17.5s in the morning.

Illabarook, chasing its first win since round two of 2011, tried hard, but was simply not good enough to kick a winning score. The Bulldogs made too many decision and skill errors to trouble their former Lexton Plains rivals, frustrating coach Rod Gladman.

Gladman, who didn't play in the clash despite signalling his intent to start on Thursday night, said it was important for his team to be competitive in upcoming fixtures against 2012 finalists Waubra, Creswick and Buninyong.

"We just want to be competitive. That's all you can ask for," he said.

Gladman was impressed with his backline, led by Chris Morcombe and Michael Avery, while Brandon Greenwood and Stephen Frys were busy around the ground and Ryan Jeffrey and David Tung good up forward with two goals apiece.

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