Omitted senior players Richard Hadley and Ash McGrath came to the fore when the game was in the balance to spark the Suncoast Lions to a 56-point win over Zillmere at Maroochydore yesterday.

Zillmere matched the Lions for two quarters and 20 minutes in their promotional AFLQ Velocity Sports Cup Round 12 fixture at the Maroochydore Multi Sports Complex, but the inevitable eventually happened.

With a running brigade boasting Hadley, Justin Sherman, Scott Harding, Marcus Allan, Chris Schmidt, Ben Fixter, and Matthew Moody, and the elusive McGrath up forward, the Lions cracked the tough nut Eagles in the last 40 minutes to win 22.18 (150)-15.4 (94).

Hadley was the one who did the damage when the game still hung in the balance.

With Suncoast leading 11.10-11.3, he kicked the first goal himself, and then three times set up McGrath with lace-out passes or clever handballs as the Lions rushed on four goals in eight minutes.

The tiring Eagles then conceded seven goals in the final term as the Lions midfield took full control.

In fact, the Lions booted 10 of 11 goals, before the Eagles kept chipping away to reduce the final margin.

Giant 204cm ruckman Cameron Wood dominated the centre bounces after an interesting tussle through the first 45 minutes with Zillmere young gun Brendan Forbes.

Wood constantly smashed the ball forward at the centre bounces and took numerous marks patrolling the centre square.

His dominance gave the Lions midfield first use of the ball after halftime, with Hadley, Harding and Allan particularly prominent.

Suncoast coach Craig Brittain wasn’t happy with Hadley and Allan’s second quarters, and challenged them at halftime.

They responded in emphatic fashion, Hadley collecting possessions at will and bringing teammates into the game with his creative handball, and Allan turning the tables on dangerman Matthew Payne.

Payne and minder Ben Fixter both had plenty of ball in the first half, with Payne particularly effective, but Allan nullified him through most of the last hour.

McGrath spent all of Saturday night in the air on his way back from Perth as 23^rd man for Brisbane, but still was able to burst out of the blocks with a rampant first term where he was best afield at the first break.

Playing out of full-forward again in the third quarter, he kicked the three late quarter goals and finished with five for the match.

“He was very good, close to our best,” a content Brittain said afterwards.

Local Sunshine Coast boy Daniel Dzufer was also impressive.

Playing mostly in the last line of defence, he was rarely beaten and provided plenty of rebound with his willingness to run, even kicking a goal in the third quarter.

Moody started and finished the game with a glut of possession, while Sherman provided plenty of run and his finishing work in front of goal was generally first class with four goals.

“The first quarter was a really good contest, they outworked us in the second, but we got our attitude and attack on the ball right after that and the rest took care of itself,” Brittain said.

Despite the 56-point margin, there weren’t too many disappointed people in the Zillmere camp afterwards.

Twice early in the game the Lions looked set to run away from the team, only for the gritty Eagles to tackle themselves back into contention.

Running players Nathan Boucher and Nikos Kiem were simply brilliant for most of the day, but they lacked support, particularly when Allan took Payne out of the game.

Boucher, easily the smallest man in AFLQ football, has the biggest heart and his form has been a revelation this season.

Teenager Kiem is going to be one of the local game’s stars of the future and the way the duo and most of their teammates handled the ball when the heat was fierce certainly pleased the Eagles hierarchy.

Ben Dawson looked good in front of goal and finished off the work of the midfield with three majors in the opening three terms, while Austin Lucy worked long and hard at centre-half-forward against Schmidt early and a string of opponents after that.

Livewires Matt Argus and David Scott did some good things and just when each was really starting to have an impact, were hurt in crunching contests.

Eagles coach Murray Davis was not disappointed with his players’ effort.

“They (his players) came to play - they tackled well and pressured well, but all the Lions AFL players were terrific,” he said.

“They got a lesson in hard running.”

In their first clash of the season, the Eagles were restricted to 0.12. Such is football, they booted seven goals straight before missing and 15.4 was their most accurate effort this season.

The win put Suncoast level on terms with four other sides on eight wins, just four premiership points behind competition leaders Mt Gravatt.

Suncoast play sixth-placed Broadbeach at the Gabba on Saturday in a game that they will try to end the Cats’ slim mathematical prospects of sneaking into the top five.

Scores:

Suncoast Lions 4.4 8.7 15.13 22.18 (150)

Zillmere Eagles 4.0 9.2 11.3 15.4 (94)

Suncoast, Goals: A McGrath 5, J Sherman 4, M Moody 2, K Tyson 2, D Dzufer 2, S Harding 2, B Stewart, R Hadley, B Wallis, M Allan, J Tippett 1. Eagles: B Dawson 3, M Payne 2, D Garton 2, D Flaherty 2, R Lucas, D Scott, B Forbes, B Wallis, A Rodgers, L Eclich 1.

Best, Suncoast: C Wood, M Allan, R Hadley, A McGrath, S Harding, J Myers. Eagles: N Kiem, B Wallis, B Dawson, J Pavone, A Lucy, M Payne.