A seven-goal haul by Drew Schneider inspired Nhill to a 54-point victory over Horsham Demons on Saturday.

But the Tigers did not have it all their own way in the first half, as the scoreboard sat at 45-44 at halftime.

Nhill co-coach Jake McQueen said the Tigers were slow to start but found their form in the second half.

With its round one game on April 12, then the Easter break followed by a bye, Nhill had to wait nearly three weeks between matches.

“That definitely wasn’t ideal, but we’re not taking any credit away from the Demons that actually put up a really good fight in that first half,” he said.

“But we flicked the switch at half time and started to get the hang of it again.”

While three injuries left the Tigers with limited interchanges and forced positional changes, McQueen said moving recruit Darcy Reid onto Demon Billy Carberry was a positive.

The Tigers piled on 11.10 to the Demons’ 3.5 in the second half to run out comprehensive winners at Davis Park.

Schneider, who has moved up the ground this season from his traditional full-forward position in the goal square, was a standout after half time, while Lucas Dahlenburg and Matt Kennedy were also among the best.

Adam Zimmermann, playing on a game permit, was literally a standout – the 200-plus centimetre ruckman was a welcomed addition to the Tigers’ lineup.

“Adam’s a local boy. We just had him on a permit game, so that’s just a one-off at this stage,” McQueen said.

“He’s at uni in Melbourne. We’re hoping he might’ve liked it and wanted to hang around, but we’ll see.”

McQueen said Schneider had not kicked any goals in the first half.

“From the second half, he just went bang, bang, bang,” McQueen said.

“So he was good –  he played his role really well.”

The Tigers now turn their attention to their match against Dimboola this weekend.

“Dimmy are bringing in their Darwin boys this week so it’s not going to be an easy game, that’s for sure,” McQueen said.

“But we’ll put together a few things to hopefully get the win.”

Dimboola enjoyed an 18-point win over Horsham Saints on Saturday, but similarly to the Nhill versus Demons match, it was a tale of two halves.

With a 45-42 scoreline at halftime – the Roos’ way – the match remained close in the third term.

But the Roos were slightly more accurate in front of goal and took the lead by eight points at the last change.

A 20-10 point last term gave Dimboola the win – with Dylan Landt, Andrew Moore and Benjamin Brett impressive.

The Saints will now travel to Central Park, Stawell, to take on the Warriors who had a week off as their round three match was played on Good Friday.

The other round three game was a closely fought-out match between Minyip-Murtoa and Warrack Eagles, with the final scoreline 76-61.

Playing at Murtoa, scores were close at quarter-time before the Burras were able to hit the lead and jump out to a  27-point lead by three quarter time.

But the Eagles mounted a comeback in the last term, kicking 5.14 to the home side’s 2.4.

Riley Morrow, Nick Ingram and Declan Powell were impressive for the Eagles, while the Burras were well led by Dusty Cross, Luke Fisher and Joseph Clancy.

Minyip-Murtoa take on Southern Mallee Thunder in what could be the match of the round, while the Eagles will face Ararat.

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