North Launceston has set up an intriguing Wednesday night Northern derby following a convincing 52-point win at Glenorchy.
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The Northern Bombers sit just 14 percentage points behind top-of-the-table Launceston at the midway point of the season and appear to be edging closer towards their best form.
Saturday's 11.9 (75) to 3.5 (23) victory began slowly as the Magpies harnessed a several-goal breeze to kept the reigning premiers scoreless in the first term.
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Teenage wonderkid Baynen Lowe got the Bombers rolling with two goals to start the second term before a deadly Jay Foon leg-break and Bart McCulloch's clunk and 50m penalty combo established a three-goal buffer.
The visitors then kicked away in the second half as Sherrin Egger (four goals) slotted three third-quarter majors before rain set in for the final term.
Northern Bombers coach Taylor Whitford was happy to have collected the four points while rotating heavily through the midfield ahead of a short turnaround.
"We were able to swing a few changes during the game, no-one really played dominant midfield minutes - Josh [Ponting] probably played the most, but we were able to play some different guys through there.
"Baynen had a really good game - he played some midfield minutes today and Ollie Sanders and James Curran played some midfield minutes, so it was good to play these guys with Josh and Brad [Cox-Goodyer] and they held their own which was really pleasing.
"Sherrin went out and played forward after half time and gave us some good energy up forward, so it's good to see that we've got other avenues to goal not just Bart and Jackson [Callow] and Tommy [Bennett], we've got some quality small forwards that can finish."
Defender-turned-midfielder Foon kicked two goals and won plenty of football while Corey Nankervis excelled in a shutdown role against Jaye Bowden, keeping the Magpies superstar goalless in a best-on-ground display.
"He played a really good game Corey, he stifled him really really well," Whitford said.
"I think Jaye ended up playing on ball in the last quarter at least to get some freedom, so he did a fantastic job. It goes a long way to us winning a game of footy by him stopping Jaye Bowden."
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT:
The Bombers emerged from the game injury-free and have won four on the trot since falling to Launceston in round two.
Whitford said the three-time reigning premiers were beginning to hit their straps after a slow start to the year.
"Compared to the first two weeks I think we've been able to string a couple of consistent performances together," Whitford said.
"We've only had one or two changes the last couple of weeks and hopefully we can keep improving.
"I still think we've got a lot of improvement to go - it's been great to go to training and have a focus for improvement so hopefully we can put a good performance in on Wednesday, go into that bye and really finish the year well."
SCOREBOARD
North Launceston 0.0, 4.2, 9.3, 11.9 (75)
Glenorchy 1.3, 1.4, 3.4, 3.5 (23)
- GOALS, North Launceston: S. Egger 4, B. Lowe 2, J. Foon 2, J. Laskey 1, O. Sanders 1, B. McCulloch 1
- Glenorchy: M. Joseph 2, C. Daly 1
- BEST, North Launceston: C. Nankervis, B. Lowe, J. Foon, J. Ponting, J. Laskey, S. Egger
- Glenorchy: T. Cleary, C. Daly, J. Arnold, J. Webb, M. Rainbird, S. Rundle