SOUTH Alice Springs continued their impressive run towards this year's CAFL finals series and their first grand final appearance in three years after thrashing reigning premier Rovers in their Round 13 clash at Traeger Park.
Both sides were without several key players, but it was the Kangaroos who took control early before running to a 22.13 (145) to 6.10 (46) win.
Deacon Braun through the middle, Keiffer Turner down back and seven-goal spearhead Thomas Gorey did most of the damage for the blue and whites, who avenged their Round 8 loss to Rovers in no uncertain manner.
Coach Chris Forbes was pleased with his side's accuracy in front of goal and the final spread of 12 goalkickers among the 22 that were kicked.
"Those sort of things help a lot and Thomas Gorey's bag of goals added to the scoring power, in fact it puts him in the lead in the race for the league goalkicking.''
The Roos played four 17-year-olds against the premiers, including Landan Edwards, first gamer Angus Murphy, Rohan Watts was prominent at centre half-forward with two goals and Tyrell Martin also bagged a couple of goals.
Rovers coach Danny Measures said player unavailability had hurt his side in the past month, but he expects a revitalised Double Blues side when they resume hostilities after the Round 14 bye.
Federal moved to second following a 29-point win over long-time rivals Pioneer in Saturday's late game at Traeger Park.
Opportunist forward Marcus McDonald added to his growing goal tally with a seven-goal haul from a forward pocket, adding to bags of seven and eight goals in the last three weeks.
Braydon Weiley produced another masterclass through the middle where he was prolific at the stoppages and Lachy Duneman was as safe as a bank in the back half.
The Demons won the game in the all-important third quarter when they kicked six goals to three against the skilful Eagles.
The win has coach Izaak Ankers in a positive mood with only the Round 14 match against Wests to play before the finals.
"We had a bit of a lull early in the season, but the boys are playing some confident footy and applying scoreboard pressure,'' he said.
"We'll be lookig to carry that momentum and form in against Westys and take it into the finals.''
In women's football Rovers and Alkamilya retained the top two positions on the ladder with convincing wins over South Alice Springs and Pioneer.
Rovers booted nine goals to three against third-placed Souths to secure their eighth win of the season in Friday's match at Albrecht Oval.
Christa Lingen at fullback, Melanie Churchill running off half back and four-goal captain Delsey Ah Wang in the key forward post always kept the Double Blue jumpers in charge.
Coach Warren Lally was impressed with his charges with finals football only three weeks away.
"We're starting to link things together on the field and play some good footy,'' he said.
"We're running the game out as well and that's a big positive with the club having a bye next week before the last round of matches.''
Alkamilya jumped back to the winners' list with a comprehensive 82-point win over the Pioneer women at Traeger Park on Friday night.
The Panthers sprung into action after a three-game losing streak threatened to derail their campaign, booting six goals in the firt half and eight in the second to take the points.
The top four sides in the community competition all won their Round 9 matches.
Top-of-the-ladder Papunya and fourth-placed Western Aranda won on forfeit against Areyonga and Yuendumu.
Mt Allan crushed Engawala by 85 points and Ltyente Apurte beat a tough opponent in Mutijulu by five points, both of those games were played at Albrecht Oval in Alice Springs.
