The Tigers bounced back from a woeful display against Dennington to outclass the Bulldogs 20.18 (138) to 7.5 (47) at Panmure Recreation Reserve yesterday.

Jet Dowie booted eight goals and second-half substitute Jyron Neave kicked three in the win, which lifted them to fifth on the ladder.

Merrivale trailed at quarter-time and didn’t have everything its own way, but Dwyer said there were enough positive signs to suggest it had returned to form.

“I think so. We talked after the game. Hopefully we can look back and think this is when our season got going,” he said.

“There’s still plenty to work on, our starts and other things as well, but across the four quarters it was our best game for the year.”

The second-season coach said another slow start — a theme of all four of the Tigers’ matches so far — was a minor cause for concern.

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy. We wouldn’t have everything our own way but the boys started to get going in the last 10 minutes of that first quarter,” he said.

“Even though we kicked badly, we were kicking a lot of points. We couldn’t get the scoreboard pressure on, it started to snowball from there.

“It’s still a bit of an issue, I don’t know how to address it. We’ll keep working on it, it’s only round four.”

Dowie took his season tally to 19 with his latest haul, just behind South Rovers’ Mark Murphy (22) and Nirranda’s Rick Spokes (20) on the league tally.

Hampden league recruits Gareth Crawford and Tim Carter were also influential. Their efforts turned a 28-point lead at half-time into the 91-point win.

“After half-time the stoppages were in our favour, especially the centre clearances,” Dwyer said.

“They do help (at Panmure), especially if you’ve got a potent forward line down there.”

He heaped praise on 15-year-old Neave, who replaced Hamish Gurry (knee) at half-time and could press for selection this weekend.

“He hasn’t done a lot wrong in kicking three in a half and getting at the drop of the ball. Never say never,” he said.