Giampaolo took a knock to his shin while Horbury hurt his hip in a clash with a goal post but Redan coach Eammon Gill was confident both would be cleared for the club’s next, telling Ballarat Football League assignment.

The duo will be assessed by physiotherapists early this week to determine the extent of their injury.

It is the Lions’ only dampener stemming from a 199-point win against Sebastopol at Marty Busch Reserve on Saturday.

The Lions sported 16 goal-kickers in the onslaught – Jarod Bacon (five goals) and Brenton Riordan (4) topped the tally. Importantly, the match offered the Lions a chance to work more players into the game, like forward Daniel Colbert in his return from a broken hand and first senior game since round one.

Hayden Riley and Cal Currie were the clear stand-outs for Redan.

But it was not as clear-cut a win as the scoreboard might suggest.

Sebastopol grit the game out. The Burras were younger, physically overpowered and lacked experienced to combat the Lions, but they refused to give up. 

This caught the Lions off-guard at stages, forcing them to readjust and step up the pressure.

“Sebas has definitely improved in the way they play football now,” Gill said. “Their intensity was very good and that’s a credit to them.”

Burras leaders Tom Petersen and Ross Menhennet to charge on field to keep their team organised and disciplined. There were passages of play the Burras failed to execute under pressure but coach Shane Snibson had his team focused on the little wins.

Luke Parker worked hard to nullify dangerous Lion Dean Chester and Cain Edwards played a tagging role on Horbury.

Snibson said the positive of playing such a strong team was for his developing players to know exactly where the benchmark was set and a taste for how top players went about their games.

“The pleasing things is that while we were thoroughly outplayed, we battled hard and competed to the end – at no stage did we throw the towel in,” Snibson said.

“We know, with other fixtures coming up, we need a four-quarter effort working hard and went out to do that against Redan.”

Snibson said his team still had a long way to go in matching competition leaders like Redan, but sustaining organised, disciplined footy was a good start in the right direction.