Two wins separates Tatura from Goulburn Valley League finals after a comprehensive triumph against Mooroopna on Saturday.
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At Tatura Park, the Dogs kept the Cats to just three goals for the day and kicked five goals to one in both the second and fourth quarters, helping the side break away and take a 49-point win.
They ended the round still inside the top six, still relying on their superior percentage to place them in front of seventh-ranked Rochester in what shapes as an enthralling battle to follow through the home and away season's final fortnight.
With his Bulldogs having won their first game since round 11, coach Jamason Daniels said the result was huge for his charges.
"It's been a lean month, so it's good to be back on the winners' list, as well as playing some consistent footy," Daniels said.
"There was a really good vibe yesterday, even pre-game and then throughout the day. We just had to get back to enjoying our footy, and we changed a few things around.
"We've looked at our key forwards, that's somewhere we've lacked a bit this season and had injuries. We looked at Brad Ryan forward which was good at stages, and had Jake Rennie up from the ressies, he did some good things as a key forward."
Ryan finished with four goals, while James Sullivan and Nick Fothergill each snagged two, while dominant displays from Sean Martin and Brandyn Grenfell also held the side in good stead.
"Sean Martin was great all day, he kept Hudson Thomas goalless and had great rebound from the back 50," Daniels said.
"He made everyone else look slow at times.
"Brandyn Grenfell rucked all day by himself and was tremendous, he's really getting back to the form we know he is capable of."
But it was positive and negative injury news that headlined the game for the Bulldogs; midfield jet Jason Tutt's season is over after a tough facial injury, but Daniels himself returned to the line-up less than two months after he ruptured his posterior cruciate ligament.
"I've done everything I could have done to get the knee in a place to have a run," Daniels said.
"With our last month, I probably just wanted to get out there and test it or our season might have been gone. I've been training and running, I wasn't 100 per cent going in, but I've obviously had some luck and got through the game.
"I'm pretty sore as expected (yesterday), but I'll see how recovery goes this week and how I pull up.
"Unfortunately in the second quarter there was a head clash, Jason Tutt has a broken nose and a fractured eye socket, and his season is over. He wanted to have his nose clicked back in and play, but you could see from his forehead it was a fractured eye socket."
THE GAME
Tatura 1.0, 5.2, 7.5, 12.7 (79)
Mooroopna 0.4, 1.7, 2.10, 3.12 (30)
Goals
Tatura: Brad Ryan 4, Nick Fothergill, James Sullivan 2, Morrie Serra, Jamason Daniels, Brandyn Grenfell, James Fraser.
Mooroopna: Tom Brennan, Kai Love-Linay, Nathan Basile.
Best
Tatura: Sean Martin, Brandyn Grenfell, Brad Ryan, Nick Fothergill, James Fraser, Mitch Elliott.
Mooroopna: Ollie McAuliffe, Jason Myrtle, Matt Deane, Kai Madgwick, Nathan Basile, Trent Freer.
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