Craigieburn will enter a two week break on the back of another dominant performance in Essendon District Football League division 1.
With a bye and then the Queens Birthday break, the Eagles could throw everything at Westmeadows on Saturday knowing they had a couple of weeks off.
The Eagles started well and set up the win in the first three quarters, before letting the foot off the pedal in the final term.
The Tigers kicked the first six goals of the last quarter, including four to Dean Clare, but the Eagles had done enough to win 16.22 (118)-12.7 (79).
Eagles’ coach Peter Bugden said he was happy with the win considering they were missing several key players.
“It probably could have been by a lot more,” he said. “We didn’t go on with the game and they lifted in the last quarter.
“We didn’t kick straight either.”
Acting skipper Dean Limbach kicked seven goals, to take his season tally to 38.
Bugden said Limbach’s ability to kick bags of goals on a regular basis was proving vital.
“He is really leading from the front,” he said.
“He leads in his efforts and his voice and we love what he brings to the club.
“He’s taking the pressure off the other forwards.”
Former skipper Brent Gordon was best on ground and kicked 4.3.
Jamie Gorgievski, 18-year-old ruckman Jacob McNicol and Joshua Vilinskis were other standouts. The win takes the Eagles to a 5-2 record ahead of their first bye.
Bugden said the bye comes at a perfect time, giving key players, including captain Christian McErlain, a chance to recover from injuries.
The coach said he was happy with where the young team is sitting – third – at this stage of the season.
“It’s a long way from an average losing margin of more than 100 points last season,” he said.
“We’re going incredibly well considering where we were last year.
“We had six under-19s in the senior team and I think we are the youngest team by a long way.”
Despite the improvement, the Eagles still have a lot of work to do, according to Bugden.
“We have some real issues to deal with about inconsistency within games,” he said.
“The high is really high and when we play well, it’s exceptional.
“When we lower the guard, we get a lot of goals kicked on us quickly.
“It’s something we have to work on.”
In other results, Jacana proved no match for Tullamarine with the Demons winning 16.11 (107)-5.3 (33).
Airport West and Hillside were the other winners.
In premier division, Greenvale gave Maribyrnong Park its first loss of the season.
Just one point separated the teams heading into the final break, before three goals to one got the Jets the 14.6 (90)-11.14 (80) win.
The Jets are now just percentage behind the Lions at the top of the table.
In division 2, Roxburgh Park lost to Northern Saints.
