BFNL 2023: Lake Wendouree's 393-day winless streak finally over | Ballarat Football Netball League round five review

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Jack Fitzpatrick's second win as Lake Wendouree coach has finally arrived.

The Lakers' 393-day winless streak ended on Saturday with a 102-point thumping against Melton South.

"It was really positive in the rooms after the game," Fitzpatrick said.

"If we won by six or seven goals in a scrappy game it would've felt like we were only a little bit ahead of where Melton South is.

"To win by as much as we did I just wanted to reinforce that if we can bring that level against other sides for 120 minutes then there's no reason we can't win more games."

Brayden Helyar returned to his natural centre-half back role for the Lakers, while Shaun Finlayson continued his dominance in the ruck.

"I was really proud because if you look at it from Melton South's point of view, they were playing a side they beat last year, a side that hadn't won in over a year and they were playing them at home," Fitzpatrick said.

"It was their big chance and they would have come out and thrown everything at this game so for us to absorb that and actually play decent footy as well was really pleasing."

While the Lakers celebrate, the Panthers' season from hell continues with Melton South now winless through five rounds.

Lake Wendouree visits Sebastopol in round six while Melton South, which has lost all five games by triple-digits, goes head-to-head with Darley.

Lake Wendouree 24.18 (162) d Melton South 8.12 (60)

GOALS - Lake Wendouree:

BEST - Lake Wendouree:

East Point and North Ballarat played out a classic at Eastern Oval on Saturday, but it was Jackson Merrett's Roos which came away with a crucial 20-point win.

The Roos were inaccurate in front of goals, which allowed the Roosters to trim the margin back to within a goal midway through the fourth term, before East Point settled and took control to run away with the victory.

"It was a super important win for us," Merrett said.

"We had eight or nine players who could have lined up in Under-19s for us on Saturday so it was a really young side.

"You never know what is possible with a young group if you give them the confidence to compete against these sides around us."

Merrett said it was the younger players who actually stood up when the Roosters were challenging in the last quarter.

One of those young players was Paddy Hannaford who starred in his senior debut for East Point.

Hannaford finished with four intercept marks on Saturday.

"He was really impressive," Merrett said.

"He looked super composed in the backline and was in our best two players along with Liam Howard."

Merrett was hopeful that Saturday's win would provide his side with some momentum ahead of a challenging few weeks.

The Roos host Redan, before going head-to-head with last year's grand finallists in Melton and Sebastopol.

North Ballarat now falls to a 2-3 win-loss record ahead of an Alfredton affair with Ballarat.

East Point 1.4 5.10 9.14 13.17 (95)

North Ballarat 1.2 2.4 5.6 11.9 (75)

GOALS - East Point: J.Jeffrey 3, B.Whittaker, L.Canny 2, T.Conlan 1, J.Dodd, M.Johnston, J.Toulmin, J.Van Meel; North Ballarat: Not provided

BEST - East Point: Liam Howard, Patrick Hannaford, Jordan Johnston, Matthew Johnston, Joel Van Meel, Jake Toulmin; North Ballarat: Cameron McCallum, Jack Riding, Riley Polkinghorne, Samuel Artz, Jamie Quick, Harry Loader

A slow-starting Sebastopol eventually found its groove, overcoming a valiant Ballarat outfit by 48 points at Alfredton on Saturday.

Sebastopol co-coach Luke Kiel had plenty of praise for how Ballarat started the game.

"They put a heap of pressure around the contest which slowed us up a little bit," Kiel said.

"In the end we stuck fat and got the job done. We came out and blew them away in the early parts of the third quarter and that was pretty much the game."

The win moves Sebastopol to 3-1 as the Burra slowly build towards their best form.

Kiel admitted his side still had a few things to work on as it looks ahead to next week.

Riley O'Keefe suffered a concussion and will miss Sebastopol's round six clash with Lake Wendouree.

Ballarat coach Chris Maple felt as though his side was competitive throughout the whole day.

"We just lost our way a little bit for a small period of time in the third quarter," Maple said.

"They put some bigger boys around the ball in the third quarter and were just too strong for us."

The Swans ended up debuting three youngsters, with Fraser Perkins replacing Blake Quinlan as a late out.

Ballarat hosts North Ballarat in round six.

Sebastopol 1.5 6.7 11.10 12.15 (87)

Ballarat 2.1 5.2 6.2 6.3 (39)

GOALS - Sebastopol: T.Hutt 3, A.Forbes, J.Keeble 1, L.Latch, T.Lockyer, H.Papst, D.Robertson, L.Stow; Ballarat: T.Constable 2, W.Liston, J.Harwood 1, A.Hooper

BEST - Sebastopol: Tony Lockyer, Jai Harvey, Jack Bambury, Bailey Medwell, Daniel Widgery, Lachlan Cassidy; Ballarat: Will Liston, Riley Constable, Tyler Constable, Marcus Powling, Tristan maple, Sam Fisher

Reigning premier Melton is the first Ballarat Football Netball League team to five wins, as the Bloods cruised past Redan to remain unbeaten.

A red-hot first quarter had the Bloods in the box seat right from the very start, with Melton enjoying a 38-point quarter time lead.

Melton's Brett McIntyre was dominant in the ruck, finishing with a game-high 59 hit-outs en route to best-on-ground honours.

McIntyre also had 18 disposals and three tackles in the 67-point win.

The full time margin could have easily been more as the Bloods failed to capitalise on their opportunities in the third term.

The Carter brothers in Liam and Ryan combined for eight of the Bloods' 20 goals, while Redan's Lachlan McLean and Grant Bell kicked two goals each.

It was Redan's first look at a top-six side this BFNL season, with the Lions three wins coming against LAke Wendouree, Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh.

Melton faces the Cobras in round six, while Redan visits East Point in a massive clash.

Melton 8.3 11.4 14.11 20.12 (132)

Redan 2.1 5.4 5.9 9.11 (65)

GOALS - Melton: L.Carter 5, Z.Russell 3, R.Carter, J.Kight 2, H.Hanley, R.Davis 1, L.Watkins, L.Walker, B.Sullivan, R.Walker; Redan: L.McLean 2, G.Bell, N.Kelson 1, H.Lawson, W.Madden, D.Matthews, J.Short

BEST - Melton: Brett McIntyre, Ryan Davis, Liam Carter, Luke Heaney, Jordyn Cotter, Jack Walker; Redan: Sam Broadbent, Nicholas Kelson, Izaac Grant, Jacob Short, Daniel Bond, Tom Lamb

Darley remained unbeaten with a statement-making 56-point win over Sunbury at Clarke Oval on Saturday.

Devils coach Dan Jordan said both he and Sunbury coach Travis Hodgson were not sure where their sides were at heading into the contest.

Brett Bewley booted a league-best six goals as the Henderson Medalist put together one of his best games in the black and white.

"We've been working a bit on him being able to impact the scoreboard more and he's very literal when you give him something to work on," Jordan said.

"It's really good to see him put a goal-kicking game together and it is nearly as complete of a performance from a midfielder impacting the scoreboard as I've seen."

The Devils kept Sunbury star Cody Brand to just one goal, with Brand ending up swinging down back for the Lions.

"Matt Brett took the Brand match-up for us in the first half and was really good on him early," Jordan said.

"He (Brand) ended up moving behind the footy though and still had a good impact down there."

The Lions were missing two of their most important players in skipper Tyson Lever and Harrison Minton-Connell, but Darley put together a full team performance in the 56-point thumping.

Billy Myers added five goals of his own as the Devils improve to 4-0.

Darley 5.1 9.4 11.8 17.8 (110)

Sunbury 3.3 3.6 5.10 7.12 (54)

GOALS - Darley: B.Bewley 6, B.Myers 5, W.Johnson 2, A.Azzorpardi 1, J.Cadman, T.Van Leth, B.Young; Sunbury: J.Sutton 4, J.Egan 2, C.Brand 1

BEST - Darley: Brett Bewley, Matt Denham, Billy Myers, Matthew Brett, Shane Page, Luther Baker; Sunbury: Nathan Wood, Riley Miller, Lachlan Urbon, Patrick Scanlon, Jake Egan