Gary Moorcroft was best afield and booted eight goals to propel the Bulls to the 20.14 (134) to 14.13 (97) over an injury-ravaged Boro lineup at War Memorial Park.
Matthew Dennis was dominant in the ruck and had the better of Joel McLellan, while Brayden Shaw continued his phenomenal start to the season. He led by example, winning both the hard and loose ball and helped to fill the void left by injured star David Mitchell.
But it was Moorcroft’s day as the mercurial forward ran amok in the forward half, kicking goals from everywhere before taking a contender for mark of the year when he stood upright on his opponent’s head in the third quarter – reminiscent of his famous mark for Essendon in 2001.
He had seven goals to three-quarter time, including three in the third quarter which helped break the game open.
Cameron Cloke went down with an ankle injury early in the game, and with his movement severely limited, he was forced to play out of the goal square rather than in his usual centre half forward position.
But that only caused greater headaches for the Boro, with Cloke and Moorcroft working beautifully together out of the goal square, with Cloke often playing a decoy and creating space for his smaller teammate to lead into.
Despite the final scoreline, Greensborough was resilient throughout the contest and refused to yield despite having seven of its best 22 on the sidelines – including injured skipper Tim Bongetti and VFL stars Nick Riddle and Eamon Jenkins.
However its defiance came at a cost with Jamie Craker severely concussed following a sickening collision with teammate Mitch Anderson in the final stages of the match – the incident halting play for ten minutes with the defender stretchered from the field.
The contest was fierce for the opening two and a half quarters, with scores level at the 10 minute mark of the third quarter before Bundoora kicked six of the next seven goals to take a match-winning 34 point lead into the final break.
Earlier, Josh Grubb kicked the opening goal of the game before Bundoora settled with the next three through Moorcroft (two) and Shaw.
The Boro levelled proceedings with majors to Aron Burns and Grubb, before Michael Mitchell took a big grab on the stroke of quarter time and kicked truly to give the visitors an eight-point lead at the first break.
The second quarter was free-flowing with both sides scoring with freedom thanks to efficient and clean play through the middle of the ground.
Both sides kicked two goals in the opening seven minutes of the quarter, the best of those a checkside from Josh Riddle when running along the boundary line.
Grubb followed that with his third, a 55m bomb from a tight angle, before a lovely bit of forward movement saw Moorcroft deliver perfectly to Cloke to help establish a six-point lead at half time.
As resilient as the Greensborough team has become, it eventually lacked polish in the second half with Bundoora able to find easy avenues to goal, while the Boro had to grind out each of their six final half goals.
With Lachlan McQuilken and Tristan Stead well contained, the Boro lacked finishing touch, however the inside work of Tiwi Island recruit Simon Munkara was extremely impressive.
Micheal Farrelly was instrumental in Bundoora’s second half dominance, but the work of second-tier players like Lee Santoro and Andrew Stellas also contributed to the runaway victory – with both surely doing enough to secure their place in next week’s huge showdown against Heidelberg.
Greensborough now travels to Para Road for a clash with second placed Montmorency, with the Magpies coming off an upset 75-point win over Heidelberg at Warringal Park.
Final score: Greensborough 14.13.97 def by Bundoora 20.14.134
