Premiership hero Gary Robinson (8) and recruit Robbie Gregg (7) combined to slot 15 goals as Nirranda cruised to a 17.18 (120) to 13.7 (85) thumping of South Rovers on Saturday.

Robinson has slotted 25 goals to date, while Gregg, a crumbing forward, has chipped in with 19.

Blues mentor Shane Threlfall said while his side was improving, it still had ground to make up.

“Our two key forwards have kicked that many between them, so that is definitely a good start for us,” Threlfall said.

“We’re miles in front of where we were this time last year, with lots of room for improvement,” he said.

“But when I say miles in front, we don’t have to teach the boys our structures. We just have to tidy up that disposal.

“It’s small things we have to work on, not major gameplan stuff.”

Nirranda strangled South Rovers, using tight defensive structures to deny the Walter Oval club a large portion of momentum.

Threlfall praised his team’s resilience.

“I think we played really well at times, but we did cough it up a little bit with some skill errors at times,” he said.

“We were a bit disappointed in that. I felt that is an area we have improved in, but we weren’t as good as we can be.

“Whenever they had some run and picked up one or two goals, we were able to steady and then respond.

“We always felt we were in control but we couldn’t break their spirit.”

First-year South Rovers coach Adam Matheson lauded his side’s ability to grind out the match, but lamented turnovers.

“Just when we got some scoreboard pressure, and we’d get back within two goals, we’d give them one back from our direct turnover,” he said.

“That’s the frustrating thing for us. It’s something we’ve identified we need to work on.

“When we’d get close enough, we’d just give an easy one. There’s a bit to work on, but there is definitely some belief we can match it with some of the best teams.”

Matheson said the club had full belief in its game plan but was determined to stop “leaking” goals.

“We’ve been great with our structures but we just let ourselves down with poor disposal,” he said.