Launceston were too strong against North Launceston in the first Northern derby of 2022, emerging 18.22 (130) to 3.4 (22) victors.
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Playing in front of what Blues coach Mitch Thorp confirmed as Windsor Park's biggest crowd in 10 years, the reigning premiers were too powerful for Brad Cox-Goodyer's young Bombers.
"I thought the boys applied themselves really well, 90 tackles for us is the mark we are after and we know when we hit that number we often get the ball back quite a bit," Thorp said.
"I thought our leaders were sensational today from the get-go so it's a nice one to bank and we move on pretty quick."
Skipper Jobi Harper led from the front, extending his big-game reputation by winning the Adam Sanders Medal in honour of the former Blues and Bombers legend.
Described as a "big bullocking boy" by Thorp, Harper was massive through the midfield and had an impact on the scoreboard with three goals as competition leader Jake Hinds slotted four more.
As the clash featured neither Thorp or Cox-Goodyer for the first time in a long while, the Bombers' coach praised the Blues in his post-match assessment.
"They are obviously a class above everyone at the moment," he said.
"We can talk about structures until the cows come home but unfortunately we just don't have the cattle at the moment.
"We understand that we've got to work and continually put ourselves in a position where we can compete at the end of the year when we have a full squad available."
With the coach resting his niggling calf, Michael Stingel's sore ankle and eight Devils players missing, it was going to be a tough test.
"Obviously I'd love to be out there and help the boys. It's the first time we've been beaten by 100 points in a long time, so it's never nice," Cox-Goodyer said.
"It was tough not being out there but it's understanding that it's a tough season and we've just got to keep grinding away, keep getting better.
"These guys will learn a lot from today, which is probably the main thing, about work rate and a couple of things, we've obviously got to find the positives."
It wasn't all bad news for Cox-Goodyer's Bombers, as he critiqued their effort as better than last week's Clarence loss.
"It's understanding that the effort was better than last week which was good, we were just outclassed in a couple of areas," he said.
"They did a great job at generating a spare man behind the ball and putting pressure on the ball.
"We obviously won the clearances but we hacked it forward to their spare and once they got that turnover, they just killed us on the fat side and moved the ball really well."
Nathan Pearce and Jack Avent were the Bombers' best on their return from COVID, while Alex Lee had a huge amount of hit-outs in the absence of a specialised Blues ruckman.
Outside of Harper, Casey Brown, Brodie Palfreyman, Jackson Thurlow and the returning Dylan Riley shone for the Blues.
Playing his first game in 279 days, Riley didn't slot into the Blues' forward line as expected.
Instead, Thorp chucked his close mate across half-back and it paid dividends, describing his performance as "super".
"He just played half-back, had intercept marks, intercept spoils and just looked a class above in a lot of one-on-ones I'm rapt to have him back out there," Thorp said.
"I've coached Dyl at three clubs and when we started together at South Launnie in our first premiership, he played half-back so I've seen it before and know what he's capable of.
"The only role we had for him today was in our back half and that just speaks volumes of our program that it's not about any one individual and he's more than comfortable with that."
As well as Riley's return, the day was also a special one for Bombers forward Tom Bennett, playing his 100th senior game for the club.
He was one of the side's three goalkickers alongside young duo Theo Ives and Isaac Newett, the latter who was on debut, with Bennett almost kicking two in two minutes late in the final term.
The bye will come at a good time for the Bombers, giving them a chance to rest some sore bodies while Launceston host Clarence in what should be a cracking encounter.
LAUNCESTON 5.4 9.12 13.14 18.22 (130)
NORTH LAUNCESTON 1.0 2.1 2.2 3.5 (23)
GOALS
L'ton: J. Hinds 4, J. Harper 3, J. Burling 2, J. Thurlow 2, M. Musicka, F. Seymour, R. Tyrrell, B. Taylor, Z. Morris, B. Palfreyman, B. Gillow
North L'ton: T. Bennett, T. Ives, I. Newett
BEST
L'ton: J. Harper, C. Brown, B. Palfreyman, J. Thurlow, D. Riley, A. Wright
North L'ton: N. Pearce, J. Avent, A. Lee, B. Simpson, H. Griffiths, D. Chugg