Riddell is getting back to full fitness and hammered Woodend-Hesket

Reigning premier Riddell sent out a clear warning to its rivals on Saturday, hammering flag contender Woodend-Hesket.

Dylan Tarczon celebrates a goal for Riddell. Picture: Hamish Blair

The Bombers are back.

After a difficult stretch that saw them lose four games in a row earlier in the season, Riddell now has four wins in a row to launch back up the RDFNL ladder.

The reigning premier was outside the top six when it lost to Melton Centrals in Round 7 but is now just a game out of second place after belting flag contender Woodend-Hesket by 46 points at Riddells Creek Reserve on Saturday.

The Bombers have started to get key players back from injury with the likes of Dylan Tarczon, Lucas Shaw, Nathan Croft and Jordan Reardon returning in recent weeks.

Riddell coach Justin Belleville praised the 11.8 (74) to 4.4 (28) win as the team’s best performance of the season.

Lucas Shaw in action for Riddell. Photo: Hamish Blair

“It was probably our best four-quarter effort, we’re tracking OK and starting to get some players back,” he said.

“We don’t want to make excuses but it helps when you’ve got the cattle on the park.

“We always knew where we were at, we just needed to stick fat with what we were going through.

“Every team goes through it, Macedon and Woodend are going through it a little bit at the moment, that’s the ups and downs of a football season.

“The double chance is still the aim, that has never changed even when we lost those four in a row, we were fighting to make the six a month ago so it can turn quickly.”

After an arm-wrestle in the first half, Riddell broke the game open in the third term and took a 21-point lead into the final change.

Woodend coach Josh Pound kicked the first goal of the final term to give the Hawks a sniff but Riddell quickly extinguished any hope.

Ross, Tommy Alkemade, Shaw, Trent Stead and Cal Williamson piled on five unanswered goals to seal a comprehensive win.

Tarczon was in everything for the Bombers, picking up possessions at will in midfield and driving the ball deep into attack, while Alkemade continued his outstanding season and Ben Sonogan was a rock in defence.

Belleville said he could have thrown a blanket over a host of players for best-on-ground but was particularly pleased with Tarczon and Ross’s contribution.

“(Tarczon) is pretty special for what we do, he straightens us up,” Belleville said.

“He’s that inside mid that can go forward and makes the players around him better.

“It’s like (Ross) never left, he’s a pretty special footballer.

“There’s not much he hasn’t achieved at the footy club and now that we’re getting players back around him it will allow him to play more his game rather than some of the stuff we’ve been asking him to do.

“It was pretty even, it could have been Tommy (Alkemade) and Ben Sonogan was good too.

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“When you play games like that it’s very hard to do the best, I could have put 10 blokes in, it was a good effort.”

Riddell faces Macedon in Macedon and Romsey at home before its second bye as it looks to challenge for a finals double chance.

The Bombers are just a game behind Wallan and Woodend-Hesket in second and third and has a better percentage than the Hawks.

Elsewhere, Melton Centrals kept Western Rams goalless for the entire match in a 127-point thrashing, Wallan was too good for Macedon in a 54-point triumph and Diggers Rest eased past Lancefield by 38 points.