WILLIAMS had no trouble in overrunning Bulldogs at home in the competition played at Williams on Sunday.
The Cats looked to be going to an easy win in the first term when they had more than their share of the play and had 5.4 to just two goals by Bulldogs at the first change.
However, Wagin made a stronger effort in the second quarter and looked to be providing much sterner opposition although they couldn’t convert onto the scoreboard.
The second half was all completely Williams as they stormed away to win by over 20 goals.
They kicked six goals in the third term and another six in the final quarter while holding Bulldogs to just a total of three points for the entire half.
Gerard Medlen is quickly running himself back into good form after missing most of the season, and his combining with Farrant up forward is going to spell trouble for opposing defences during the finals.
Farrant was almost unstoppable getting nine goals and Medlen at centre half forward chipped in with a valuable five.
Rose, Price and Berlund were on top through the midfield and Wagin had no answer for their run. Sheldon Turner, Dale Fazioli and young Corey Wilson worked hard for Bulldogs but they didn’t get enough support to challenge the top side for the full four quarters.
Katanning Wanderers confirmed themselves as a real prospect for premiership honours last weekend with their come from behind win over Boddington at Boddington.
With their win, they have cemented second place on the ladder with Boddington to stay third.
Boddington started the game with a good quarter and led by some 15 points by the first change. Thomas up forward was proving a handful with good support from their strong players in Walsh and Beresi.
However, Wanderers came back strong in the second term to take the lead going in at half-time. Once again their younger players in Davis, Collard and Schloithe were prominent with some good support from captain Levitzke and Flugge.
With the wind favouring the end to which Boddington were kicking in the third term, the lead changed again with Eagles in front by a goal by three quarter time, and looking good for a final term effort.
The final quarter was a hard fought affair with Wanderers seeking to continue their winning run and Boddington working hard to hold on to have that chance for second place.
Fitzgerald and Schloithe were good up front kicking nine goals between them and Thomas for Boddington had five goals.
In the finish, Wanderers proved to be just that much stronger and were two points up when the final siren sounded.
The win was Wanderers' 11th in succession and shows that they are more than capable of winning away from home as well as in Katanning.
Tim Fitzgerald topped scored with five goals for Wanderers with Levitzke, Ryan Flugge and Allen the best of a good team effort.
Thomas maintained his position at the top of the goalkicking list with another five this week with Townsend, Beresi and Power the best for Eagles.
Hawks finished off Wickepin’s slight chance of making the finals when they were comfortable winners in Narrogin.
Hawks were on top right from the start with their midfield working hard to provide opportunities to their forwards; and their forwards didn’t let them down.
Ashley Ugle at full forward was too good on the day and finished with a bag of eight goals, with Mark Camaratta a good foil with six of his own.
Hawks had a handy lead by half time leading by almost 10 goals – but this time they didn’t let the opposition back in.
Although held to just one goal in the third quarter, they ran the game out much better than they have in recent weeks, kicking nine goals to win by 11 goals and seal their position in the top four.
They had 11 players scoring goals in a good spread of forward play with midfielders Wheatcroft, Thompson and Drage getting plenty of the ball.
Wickepin has only the one game left now this season as their chances of making the finals have disappeared.
They were without a number of their top players this week, with Astbury, Caen Taylor and Ty Miller all missing with injuries and certainly made the task of tackling Hawks difficult.
Dougall and O’Brien were the only multiple goalscorers for Warriors with coach Ballard, Jamie Miller and Michael Taylor their best.
Kukerin/Dumbleyung returned to the winning circle with a 54-point win over a disappointing Brookton/Pingelly.
There was little between the two sides in the first half with Nathan Ditchburn up forward for Cougars in top form while down the other end, Leigh McCallum, particularly in the second term when Panthers staged a fight back, was damaging with five goals for the quarter.
However, the second half was all Cougars as evergreen Bolt provided his side with numerous opportunities and the Ditchburn brothers more than held their own up forward.
They were well supported by Ward and Edwards.
Leigh McCallum scored seven of his side’s nine goals and really worked hard until the second half when his opportunities were limited.
Bassett and Crawford were instrumental in Panthers' second quarter effort but faded out of the game as the stronger Cougar players took control.
With only one game to go, it is unlikely that there will be any change in the premiership table, certainly not in the top four, and these four teams will fine tune their game in preparation for the forthcoming finals.
Just one game separates Boddington and Wagin in the reserves grade but with both playing the bottom two sides, it is unlikely also that Boddington would lose and Wagin win by a sufficient margin to improve their percentage by the 15 points margin to make any changes in this grade.
With the last round in the thirds not being counted for premiership points, the final four has been settled in this grade and with the final round in the fourths now played this grade will play their end of season carnival in Pingelly next week.
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