Bundoora jumped into the top-five in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 for the first time since Round 1 after a commanding 103-point thrashing of Northcote Park at Yulong Reserve.
After leading by 30 points at half time, the Bulls put the foot to the pedal in the second half, kicking 13 goals to two to run-away with a 21.17 (143) to 6.4 (40) victory – their fourth in succession.
A host of Bulls had extraordinary games, in particular Todd Hughes, who produced a season-best game with six majors. Daniel Guccione contributed with five of his own and Dale Marshall produced many intercept marks and inside 50 entries for the home side.
Bronik Davies and Paul Dirago were the standouts for Northcote Park on a tough day, while target Ash Close tried hard and finished with three majors.
It was only a month ago that Bundoora was sitting in ninth place on the ladder. But a string of outstanding performances has seen the reigning premier rise to fourth position, just one game away from second spot.
The Cougars on the other hand have now lost their past two games and have slid from second to sixth in the space of a fortnight, while their percentage has also taken a massive blow, losing 12 percent.
It took 12 minutes before the first goal of the match was kicked, thanks to Travis Keating for the Bulls.
A flurry of goals quickly followed, as Todd Hughes’ set shot was cancelled out by Ash Close at the opposite end, before Ricky Dyson, Nathan Thomas and Daniel Guccione each kicked a major within five minutes to push the margin to 32 points at quarter time.
Hughes continued his first quarter form into the second by kicking the first two goals of the term to bring his tally for the afternoon to three.
With the margin at 44 points, Northcote Park needed to limit the damage throughout the middle of the ground and find a way to get back into the game.
They managed the next two majors through Close and Bronik Davies and reduced Bundoora to just three more behinds to win the term and reduce the deficit to 30 points at half time.
The hopes of the Cougars finding their way back into the contest during the third quarter were quickly diminished by Hughes, who again kicked the first two goals of the quarter to extend the Bulls’ margin to 44 points at the eight-minute mark.
It didn’t get any easier for the visitors as Bundoora kicked the next six goals unanswered, including a magical over-the-head goal by Hughes in the 24th-minute to extend his tally to six.
Matthew Perazzola found the big sticks late in the quarter to reduce the margin to 78 points at three quarter time, however the Bulls were still hungry for more.
The home side were two men down in the final quarter with player-coach Ricky Dyson and Andrew Carmusciano playing no further part in the match.
It didn’t seem to be a cause of concern for the reigning premier however, winning the quarter with four goals to one, including three in a row from Daniel Guccione, to wrap up the game with a resounding 103-point win.
Bundoora will look to carry the momentum into its Round 12 match when it hosts third-placed West Preston-Lakeside at Yulong Reserve.
Northcote Park has the opportunity to get back on the winners’ list when it returns home to face bottom-placed Whittlesea at Bill Lawry Oval.
Final score: Bundoora 21.17 (143) def Northcote Park 6.4 (40)
