St Albans added further weight to its Western Region Football League finals credentials with a 33-point win against Sunshine in division 1 on Saturday.
After building an 11-point lead in the first term, the Saints took their dominance to another level in the next two quarters: St Albans combined for 7.8 while restricting Sunshine to just 2.5.
The huge scoring difference led to the margin blowing out to 42 points by three-quarter-time.
PICTURE GALLERY: St Albans v Sunshine
While Sunshine won the last quarter, there was no stopping St Albans, with their players celebrating a 17.10 (112) to 11.13 (79) win.
After his team’s disappointing performance against Werribee Districts last week, St Albans coach Marcus Barclay was rapt with its ability to bounce back.
“After not kicking a goal after half-time last week, I think that was our motivation for this week more than anything,” he said.
“During the week we spoke a fair bit about our work rate between the 50-metre arcs.
“We are really good when we’ve got the footy; we just need to work a bit harder when we don’t have it. That’s what we focused on during the week and it was great that the guys responded.”
Matt Quigley and Lachlan Baddeley were standouts for St Albans up forward, finishing with three goals each.
The Saints had six multiple goalscorers for the match, while nine players kicked at least one major.
Barclay was delighted with his side’s versatility up forward.
“In all of our wins this year we’ve had nine or more goalkickers,” he said.
“That’s pleasing. It just shows that our back six or eight players are really holding up well and the rest of them are running both ways and hitting the scoreboard.
“A lot of the good teams have that spread of multiple goalkickers, so it’s great for us.”
For Sunshine, Patrick Wiggins kicked a bag of five goals for the second week in a row.
Around the ground, Russell Douglas continued his strong season to be one of the Kangaroos’ best players.
St Albans is in fourth place on the division 1 ladder with a 4-3 record, while Sunshine is eighth with just two wins.
In other division 1 games, Albion lost to Werribee Districts and Deer Park smashed Yarraville-Seddon.
This week, the Saints take on Port Melbourne, while the Kangaroos meet Albion in a must-win clash.
