BEWARE the multi-faceted forward line.
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Jarrod Korewha might have kicked nine goals in Koroit's 72-point qualifying final rout of Warrnambool on Saturday but coach Chris McLaren says he's blessed to have multiple avenues to goal as the Saints push for a sixth straight Hampden league premiership.
The Saints were locked in a fierce battle with the Blues until half-time before piling on 13 majors to three after the main break to leave Hamilton's Melville Oval with a 20.11 (131) to 8.11 (59) win and a spot in next weekend's second semi-final.
Korewha finished with his best haul in a final and the ever-dangerous Sam Dobson chipped in with four goals.
"We are rapt for Jarrod. Not many players kick nine in any final so clearly he's had a terrific day but I thought Sam's work was ridiculously good," McLaren said.
"Jarrod's ability to keep his man off Sam when he was in a better position for him to be one-on-one (was excellent).
"(Clem) Nagorcka, (James) North and Will Couch as our resting mids going through there being able to retain the ball helped and our pressure (was good).
"It's great to have other avenues and definitely you're a harder team to play against if you're not relying on too few to kick your goals for you."
Korewha downplayed his performance, instead putting the focus on his teammates.
"It is always good to play well in finals but I think all the boys really had a good mindset heading into the game and in the end we all played well," he said.
The game lived up to its billing as a top-three showdown early.
Both teams kicked three goals as wind played havoc in the first quarter.
The majority of the second quarter was an arm-wrestle but Koroit kicked two late goals which turned the momentum its way entering the main break. It gave it a 15-point buffer.
What happened next signalled Koroit's intentions - it is not content with five straight flags.
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The Saints' slick ball movement and ability to find a target in attack left the Blues searching for answers.
"It was a really dominant display, especially in the second half," McLaren said.
"We kicked two goals after the 32-minute mark of the second quarter just bang, bang so that gave us that little breather and from then on in we had full control and credit to our players, they were enormous today.
"Like most teams we spend a lot of time watching vision and we've done a lot of stuff watching Warrnambool games from the two previous times they've played us.
"They beat us convincingly at Koroit and moved the ball well at times and we had a really close contest at Reid Oval.
"We thought our plans were great but you can have great plans and theories on things but execution (is the key) and the players, to their credit, were fantastic with that stuff today."
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Warrnambool coach Matt O'Brien said Koroit gave his side a lesson.
"Their work rate was excellent, their skill level was excellent and their marking up forward was fantastic," he said.
"We broke even on getting it out of the middle but they were much cleaner and they cut us off in our forward line and ran it out. Their percentage of scoring shots for inside 50s was extraordinary.
"It is disappointing they were able to get it out of our forward line so easily and transition well. They ended up kicking 15.4 from their last 19 entries."
O'Brien lamented the Blues' mindset which changed once the Saints started to get on a roll.
"We ended up chasing tail and weren't able to get hands on the footy," he said.
"It becomes a defensive mindset and they started running more.
"Our one percenters' count was over 80 in that first half and it dropped away.
"That hurt us badly and allowed them to move the ball cleanly which then put our backmen under pressure.
"I thought our backmen actually did a good job if the ball came in 50-50 but too many of them came in well or went out and came straight back in."
O'Brien said the Blues were "good enough for a half but not good enough for the second half".
"When the pressure was on in the first half, they (the Saints) weren't vulnerable but they weren't as dominant," he said.
"In the second half when they broke open, they were dominant."
Warrnambool, which survives and will feature in the first semi-final, had positives to salvage from the performance.
"Jye Turland had an excellent game, really worked hard and hit the scoreboard as well," O'Brien said.
"He applied pressure up forward and did all that transition running. He was involved in a lot of good handball chains for us.
"I thought Mitch Burgess gave us a lot of run as well. He just backs himself and his disposal has improved so much in these two years.
"Damien McCorkell was a real workhorse and 'Biddy' (Mitch Bidmade) probably had enough of it as well."
Koroit's James Gow, who was effective, is free to play next weekend after an investigation into an alleged incident was thrown out before it was referred to the tribunal.
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