Border Mail |LAVINGTON brushed off a plethora of personnel changes to belt Wangaratta Rovers by 68 points at W.J. Findlay Oval on Saturday.
Despite eight players coming into the team to cover a swag of injuries, unavailability and omissions after last weekend's loss to Albury, the Panthers still had the class and experience to record a comfortable win.
Luke Garland was outstanding in his return match from injury while ruckman Jamarl O'Sullivan played his best match for the club since crossing from Henty.
Jono Spina, Sam Harris and Chris Annett were solid at ground level while Sam Hargreaves held his own in his battle with Hawk prime-mover Sean O'Keeffe.
Panther coach James Saker said he was pleased with the way his players reacted to the loss last week against Albury.
"I thought we played with pretty good intensity," Saker said.
"We were able to get our noses in front and stay there.
"Our back six were really good.
"They controlled the tempo pretty well and I thought, across the board, that we improved on a few things that let us down last weekend."
A big plus to emerge for Lavington was the form of Luke McLellan.
He bobbed up with four goals in his first senior match of the season and combined well with Adam Prior who kicked three goals, opposed to Wangaratta Rovers captain Tyson Hartwig.
Dylan Wilson stood up for the home team with support coming from Shane Gaston, James Smith and Tyler Lowe.
