Stawell Mitre 10 Warriors sent a stern warning to the remaining three teams in the Wimmera Football League premiership race with a 93 point demolition job of Warrack Eagles on Saturday.
Warriors efforts have earnt them a spot in this Saturday's second semi final clash with minor premiers Horsham, who were strongly represented at Nhill as several players were there to watch Stawell's procession first hand.
Any doubts of Stawell's worth as a premiership threat were certainly quashed on Saturday as the Warriors dominated almost the entire four quarters with an undermanned outfit. This included still having star Brent Tuckey on the sidelines.
After an early charge from the Eagles, which saw them boot the opening two goals of the match, Warriors piled on 11 of the next 12 to take a commanding 51 point lead into half time.
The onslaught continued after the break with Stawell's running players such as Ben Scott, Jack Duke and Nic Thomas finding plenty of the ball along with forward Sam Anyon.
Warriors booted six goals to two in the third term and headed into the final quarter with a 70 point lead, with minds already wandering to this weekend's tantilising showdown with the Demons. However, Stawell capped off a brilliant day with a further five majors in the final term, leaving the Eagles with some soul searching to do ahead of their do-or-die semi final with Horsham Saints this Sunday at Central Park.
Minutes after the final siren sounded, coach Dale Power grouped his charges together on the ground, saying it was easily their best team effort of the season.
``That was by far and away our best team effort because of the jobs everybody did,'' he said.
``Everybody stuck to their task, it was just fantastic. We won through all the lines.
``We won each quarter which was fantastic and we go in with an effort like that next week, where we can control what we can control and we can really serve it up to Horsham.''
Power said he wanted his team to strive for a direct passage through to the grand final, which now looks more than possible with the likes of Tuckey, Julian Carr and Simon Jones all likely to return to the team this weekend.
Sam Anyon finished the afternoon with eight goals in what was his best performance of the season, while Ben Scott found plenty of the ball all over the ground and set up a number of Stawell's attacks on goal. Jack Duke found his running game once again, Trent Leslie showed what he is capable of with four first half goals and five for the match and Nic Thomas rebounded the ball well off the half back line. Scott Nicholson found some of his best form as did Shane Field.
STAWELL TIMES-NEWS BEST: Sam Anyon, Ben Scott, Jack Duke, Trent Leslie, Dale Power, Nic Thomas.
Warriors' arch rival Ararat has been sent tumbling out of the competition following a 38 point elimination final loss to Horsham Saints at Dimboola on Sunday.
The Rats, who were coming off a win over Stawell, could not match it with the Saints who slammed on 12 goals to seven after leading by just two points at half time.
Gavin Kelm booted seven goals for the Saints, who now front up against Warrack Eagles.
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