Ahead of the 14th round of the 2022 Bendigo Bank Western Border Football League season the Millicent v North Gambier fixture shaped up to be one of the most competitive battles on Saturday.

While the Saints could have been a touch vulnerable having spent an extra week on the sidelines due to its abandoned round 13 contest with West, they were at their best.

The longer stint between hit outs allowed time for big guns Clint Gallio and Tom Hutchesson to earn their first caps in many weeks and the side to find its feet.

The Tigers had no answer for Millicent’s consistent four-quarter effort and victorious coach Gallio said it was nice to see his side find its stride.

“We have had a couple of weeks off due to the bye and the abandoned game, so it was good to play some decent footy,” he said.

“We ramped up training a bit and did some different things so we had a really good fortnight on the track which paid off.

“We let them control the footy a bit too much in the first quarter, but once we shut that down and brought the pressure back up we felt in control.”

As North captain Nick McInerney put his head down like usual in search of the contested football, the visitors were able to make an impact with a few nice passages of play often finding the hands of key forward Sam Stafford, who had another big afternoon.

But their efforts could not match the more complete performance strung together by the Saints.

The likes of Kade Bradley, Sam Willis, Josh Werchon and Kalan Shanks combined beautifully in the middle to make life difficult for the opposing defenders.

Many of these plays were completed by Dylan Bromley, who was a near untouchable figure, even for one of the most respected defenders in the competition, Jake Schutz.

This enabled Millicent to more than double the Tigers’ total by the first break and continue the charge.

As the result started to become clear, fans attention turned to the big forwards at either end.

While Stafford did his best with an impressive six majors in a losing effort, Bromley took all the applause booting nine big ones to help his team fly away.

The other big takeaway was the successful returns of two of the Saints’ biggest names.

Gallio and Hutchesson made long-awaited returns from their respective calf and hamstring injuries and looked at home.

“We were just happy to get through and even had most of the last quarter on the bench,” Gallio said.

“It felt better than sitting on the sidelines all day.”