West Whyalla warmed up for the finals with an easy 161 point thrashing a disappointed Weerona Bay outfit on Saturday at Memorial Oval.
West barely moved out of third gear as they dominated all over the ground and such was their dominance that players all took turns in different positions with some stars spending large periods on the bench.
It was always going to be a difficult task for the Bays to match it with the top side and their case wasn't helped by the fact they only fielded 20 players instead of the usual 21.
But no one thought that it would be this game that West would kick Whyalla Football League's highest score for the season.
Goal sneak Bradley Smith was playing his 200th A grade game and had a day out, along with most West players, finishing with six goals.
Normally this would be enough to become the main forward on the ground but West's other two star forwards, Brad Henderson and Captain Shannon Winders, both kicked eight each.
The marking of both Henderson and Winders was exceptional given the windy and sometimes wet conditions.
The 'other' West forward, Kingsley Ware, put through a tidy 5 goals.
Ironically, Weerona Bay's best player, Gary Hoffman, was Henderson's opponent and West's score could have easily been a lot more if it weren't for Hoffman's efforts.
The Bays only fielded four players older than 21 and whilst West also play a lot of young players, the gap in quality was staggering.
West interchange players like Nathan Covino and debutant Mark Hancock were able to come on after half time and make sizeable contributions to the game.
No one expected Weerona Bay to win and whilst West realise their opposition in this week's semi final will be another level of class, they would have to be happy with how they played in order to have 51 shots at goal in difficult conditions.
All West players made solid contributions knowing that they still have several star players to return for the finals.
Players such as English, McDonald, Everett, Marshall, Sawford, Nowak, Tzantzoglou and many others, all had great games.
To their credit Weerona Bay tried all day and to kick seven goals against such a dominant team was a good effort.
Special mention must go to Lee Ringland, who suffered a possible broken nose to come back on and kick two very good goals for the Bays.
A trio of Weerona Bay youngsters, Dale Gercike, Anthony How and Aubre Harmse, all had solid games.
But the season couldn't come to an end quick enough for Weerona Bay.
After winning their first two games, they sat on top of the ladder and looked good.
They didn't win another game and, on average, let through 100 more goals than the next closest team.
West now moves into a semi final against North to see who goes straight through to the grand final.
Whilst Coach Sawford may have looked for a slightly more competitive hit out, he would be very happy with how most of his team played.
The only sour point for the Dragons being a last quarter, suspected shoulder injury to 200 game star Smith.
Email a friend