Shepheard shines in Hawks win

A seven-goal last half from Hamish Shepheard and 13 unanswered goals led Augusta-Margaret River to 77-point win over Bunbury on Saturday night at Gloucester Park.

Shepheard moved himself to full forward and kicked five goals in the third quarter, instigating a second half whitewash which saw the Hawks finish 19.10 (124) to 6.11 (47) victors.

The young Bulldogs were competitive for the first half of the match, but without ruckman Kurt Tropiano they were forced to play swingman Kane Bumann against experienced ruckman Dan Atkinson.

Atkinson dominated the contests and was influential around the ground, while Bumann positioned himself as a spare man in defence during general play to try and stop the attacking power of the Hawks.

A number of young Bulldogs put in massive efforts, with Xavier Williamson's forward pressure resulting in a number of goals and wingman Connor Walker competing hard all night.

But after half-time it was all the Hawks, who won the centre clearances with ease and gave Shepheard premium delivery after he moved himself to full forward.

Fellow co-coach Ben Gerrans was also influential off the half-back line, taking a number of intercept marks to stifle the Bulldogs when they pushed forward.

Brodie Bramich and Beau Morgan continued to have their best season for Augusta-Margaret River, running hard around the ground and kicking two goals each as the young Bunbury side had few answers for a clearly dominant Hawks outfit.

Jye Walker, Dillon Partridge and Brad Blake tried to show their experience at the contests, but too often there were not enough Bulldogs around the ball to influence the contest.

Captain Codey Hay was swung from full-back to full-forward, but had an unusually quite game compared to his lofty standards.

The Hawks win was even more impressive due to the number of experienced players missing, including forward Mitch Gerrans, as well as the influential Asher Samelko and Max Patterson.

Bunbury will go into the break at the bottom of the ladder.