Nirranda hand Merrivale comprehensive loss, limit Tigers to two goals in top-four football clash

What started as a blockbuster clash between two top-four sides, ended in a one-sided affair that saw the ladder-leaders prevail 12.10 (82) to 2.6 (18) in wet conditions at Nirranda.

"We won the territory battle and had majority of the ball in our forward half and we were able to bottle it up when we needed to, slow the game down and not let Merrivale get momentum," Harkness said.

"Which was how they were able to get on top of us earlier in the year when we played them at their home ground."

The Blues narrowly triumphed 40-34 in that previous match with Harkness saying the Tigers caught them "on the spread".

"There's a lot of areas of that game that we addressed and wanted to rectify today. I thought we did that really well," he said.

"Defensively I thought we were a lot better. To keep a top-four side to two goals it's not just the back-line but it's the midfield and the forward-line with the pressure up the ground."

Danny Craven was the Blues' best with three majors, while Sean Barnes played well for the visitors.

In his 100^th game Blues Skipper James Willsher took charge alongside Nirranda debutant Reece Holwell who also starred.

"James was great. Really good solid game from him," Harkness said.

"You know what you're gonna get with him, he's just a super consistent player. He's a really passionate brand of person and it's just such a great reward for him to play 100 games and hopefully we can get him another premiership as well.

"Reece was really strong in the contest on the inside as we knew he would be. We knew a big factor in winning the game was to win it at the contest."

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