McRae takes pride in Lions' work

Royals coach James McRae believes his side is developing a potent forward mix at the right time of the season after the Lions disposed of Mt Barker in clinical fashion to continue their winning ways on Sunday.

The 122-point thumping of the Bulls was highlighted by a scintillating seven-goal haul from star midfielder Michael McGlade, who produced his best performance of the season.

A week after fellow on-baller Dave Parker did likewise to Albany, McGlade finished with 7.3 after sharing his time on the ground in the middle and up forward to damaging effect.

With youngster Ryan Flick cutting Bulls talisman Sam Lehmann out of the contest and the constant drive from half-back by Kieron Thomas and Ben Gray on display, the Bulls were powerless to stop the Lions.

A 43-point lead at quarter-time was almost doubled by half-time and further extended on the back of a 10-goal third term with the breeze.

The Lions welcomed back lively small forward Corey Ward from a brief stint at Borden, while key forward recruit Glynn Verbruggen will return after the bye.

Add injured duo Jayson Ford, Taylor Powell and potentially veteran Leith Edwards and the Lions were starting to develop a potent mix up front, McRae said.

"We should have won some games this year. We haven't, for not having firepower up forward. Well, yeah, we are starting to develop that," he said.

"We got a lot of inside 50s earlier in the season and didn't capitalise.

"As I've said all year, it was going to take us a while to click and we are slowly clicking.

"Micky McGlade played his best game today and Dave Parker is getting better and better."

Bulls coach Ryan Ballard said his side was hurt by the Lions' superior pace on the outside and would focus on developing the club's younger players for the future.

"Pace killed us big-time today and we were just reactive all game and not proactive, which is disappointing after the last few weeks," he said.

Ballard was pleased by the efforts of youngster Rubin Backshell who nullified the influence of experienced wingman Ryan Kinnear from quarter-time.

Kinnear, along with fellow veterans Chris Denney and the returning Edwards, spent much of the second half on the bench .

Denney racked up 18 disposals to be best afield by half-time, while Edwards, a late inclusion for Powell, was a constant threat in attack.