IDEAL weather conditions greeted Mt Helena and Midland for their round 16 encounter with Mt Helena 19.9 (123) winning against Midland 16.6 (102) in the end.

The Lions were quick to goal after Mt Helena’s Bo Read delivered an accurate ruck tap to a teammate, allowing the ball to be moved forward to Mt Helena’s Jess Cartwright.

The Tigers were well served in the centre by Midland’s Denver Roberts and Shannon Coyne, who ran hard to get involved in the contests.

Midland’s Oshai Rogomaicake and Matthew Fletcher were assigned the task of manning up on the Lions’ two most effective forwards, Mt Helena’s Ryan Watters and Jess Cartwright.

Mt Helena’s Michael Hine slotted into the forward pocket for his retirement game.

The Lions had opened a 19-point lead by the first siren.

Midland’s Renee Anderson popped up for an early second-quarter goal as the Tigers pushed hard to reduce the deficit.

Mt Helena’s Ryan Schwagereit was starting to gain confidence after a lengthy time out with injury.

Lion Blade Elzer enjoyed the dry conditions and combined with Daniel Bulla as they ran the ball down the outer wing towards goal.

Mt Helena’s Michael Hine was awarded a kick in his forward pocket, but the distance from goal appeared to be his biggest hurdle.

With some clever footwork, he evaded the player on the mark and moved close enough to convert the kick.

Mt Helena had increased its lead to 30 points by half-time.

Midland needed to improve if it was going to get back into the game.

A move in the ruck paid dividends as the Tigers were able to get the ball out of the centre through Midland’s Niklas Geracitano.

He delivered the ball to Midland’s Denver Roberts, who sidestepped a couple of opponents and ran on to kick a goal.

This was quickly followed by some equally smooth ball movement, allowing Midland’s Toban Higgins to convert another.

Within minutes, Midland’s Denver Roberts had kicked another goal and the Tigers were on a roll and back within two straight kicks.

A late goal to Mt Helena Lion Jess Cartwright pushed the margin back to 30 points at the final change.

The last quarter was set up for a big finish.

It turned into a your-turn, my-turn affair as the teams went goal-for-goal, kicking five each.

Mt Helena’s Dakota Pollard had a standout finish with three goals for the quarter, while teammate Jess Cartwright kicked his seventh for the game.

Midland’s Denver Roberts closed out the game with his fifth goal in what was probably a best-on-ground performance.