The reigning-premiers were hardly troubled by the last-placed Bulldogs, leading 40-nil at the break, before going on to seal a 44-point victory.

Lions’ coach Michael Cronin credited his team’s commitment to each other on Sunday. 

“I told thew boys before the game to treat the Bulldogs same as we would a team at the top of the ladder, because every team deserves that in this competition,” he said.

“To the boys credit, they got a lead and toughed it out at the start of the second half, in a period where Milton were probably on top.

“But we dug deep and managed to finish the game strong.”

Cronin acknowledged that his team are obviously travelling well but  knows the real test will come in the run towards the finals, where they play three of the other top five sides.

“We have a tough run home but it will be a good indication of how we going ahead of the finals,” he said.

“That run starts on Sunday at Warilla, who we always knew would get it together eventually.

“We will be working on improving our offence, as we probably blew three chances at the weekend, but with the way we play, you’re going to get those errors every now and then.

“But the big thing heading into finals is tightening up our defence, something we have always prided ourselves on.”