Birchip-Watchem showed why they are NCFL premiership favourites on Saturday, beating the third-placed Donald by a comfortable 39-point margin.
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The 11.18 (84) to 6.9 (45) victory almost seals the top two, with the Bulls 12 points and second-placed Sea Lake-Nandaly ten points ahead of the Royals in third.
It was a professional performance on a soggy afternoon, with the Bulls steadily pulling away each term after a tense opening quarter that saw each side kick three goals.
Bulls coach Trevor Ryan told the Bendigo Advertiser they played the conditions well.
"I was quite happy with our performance," Ryan said.
"We had the mindset of going back to basics and focusing on metres gained with the wet weather, and to the boy's credit, they played their roles really well.
"We didn't finesse the ball and took the most of our opportunities, which you have to do in wet weather footy."
After the tight opening stanza, the Bulls opened up a 13-point buffer by the main change and had killed the contest at the final break, leading by 28 points.
Ryan was pleased with the second half.
"Donald was good in the first half and were handling the ball cleaner at times, but we wore them down towards the back end of the game," he said.
"We had a big focus on contested footy where big Hamish Hosking is a massive difference for us, and in the second half, most of it was played at our end.
"We had three kids from our thirds play on Saturday, and they all fitted in well with the senior guys.
"Across the team, there isn't anyone who is out of form, which is a good spot to be in when there are 21 blokes playing well in their own way."
One of those kids was Charlie Frank.
Playing in his eighth game of senior footy, Frank was tasked with stopping inform Royals forward Blake Grant and kept him to two majors.
Frank was voted as the Bull's best on PlayHQ.
"We played Charlie in the back pocket, and he did a job on Grant," Ryan said.
"Charlie has a strong body for his age - he's played eight games now and is getting better with each match.
"He's got a lot of poise, makes the right decisions, and has a pretty high skill level with both his hands and feet."
Meanwhile, Sea Lake-Nandaly was just as impressive against a strong opponent in Wedderburn, claiming a 12.14 (86) to 4.3 (27) win at Donaldson Park.
The Redbacks only managed two goals after quarter time as Tigers spearhead Joshua Jenkins nailed five.
Wycheproof-Narraport had to fight off an improving St Arnaud's last-quarter comeback after being 29 points up at the final break, but the Demons held on comfortably enough to win 9.11 (65) to 7.6 (48).
These results brought Boort right back into the finals hunt after they downed Charlton 11.9 (75) to 3.6 (24).
