One step closer: Dogs in box seat to secure finals position

While a hard-fought, low scoring win in the middle of winter isn't the most fashionable nor memorable, it's incredibly important in the context of Dennington's season.

The Dogs knocked off Timboon Demons 8.17 (65) to 5.5 (35) to move within touching distance of locking away a finals position.

"It was a good win, we really set ourselves for this one," Dogs coach Leigh Anderson said.

"Our backs were against the wall a bit. We set some roles for our players which they did well.

"We knew they had some damaging players off half-back and had to nullify and thought we had to stop that.

"They kicked with a strong breeze early but our first quarter was really good. We kicked a lot of points

"It puts us in a good spot."

The Dogs lost one of their most important players at the last minute, with ruckman Flynn Rowe pulling out with illness.

But Anderson, whose team sit a game clear and percentage with three rounds to go, said the group adapted nicely, praising Nick Alexandrou's role in negating Demons playing coach Marcus Hickey's impact in the ruck.

"Big Nick Alexandrou managed to nulify 'Barney' which was obviously really important for us in the conditions," he said.

"We know how good Barney is with his tap outs and giving the midfielders first look, but he made it a real 50-50 in that contest."

Tom Noonan Jr reached the 50-goal mark with four majors, while Dillon Patton and recruit Harry Ponting also played well.

Anderson said there would be sore bodies from the contested contest but was pleased to walk away unscathed as his group look to move on quickly towards a road trip to Kolora-Noorat.

"We'll take it a week at a time and go about our business," he said.

"It's always a tough road tip to Kolora, we'll look forward to the challenge in front of us."

Demons skipper Ash Hunt led the way for his team to be named the best.

In remaining matches, Merrivale - in skipper Jack Gleeson's 150^th senior match - registered an incredible 47 scoring shots to defeat Panmure 14.33 (117) to 3.9 (27).

The much loved Tiger was in the best for his team as they look to stay in touch with the top-two.

Fellow contenders Nirranda did what it needed to against Kolora-Noorat in its 7.10 (52) to 2.1 (13) win while Allansford got the job done against South Rovers to win 10.11 (71) to 4.11 (35).

Cats spearhead Robbie Hare moved to 85 goals for the season with a bag of five.