Essendon Doutta Stars' Mitchell Day and Luke Hodgkin bring down Craigieburn's Mathew Jones.
Pictures: Ari Hatzis
CRAIGIEBURN has just Avondale Heights for company at the bottom of Essendon District Football League after an 84-point hiding by Essendon Doutta Stars at the weekend.
The Eagles sunk to last on the premier division table after the 21.12 (138) to 8.6 (54) loss at Buckley Park.
Avondale Heights' 13-point defeat to Maribyrnong Park means Craigieburn dropped to last by less than one percentage point.
Essendon Doutta Stars jumped to seventh with its first win, leapfrogging fellow one-win side Keilor in eighth.
Craigieburn struggled to have an impact on the scoreboard during brief spells of control while the Stars had no such problems inside forward 50.
Click on the image below for our picture gallery from the big game.
Kicking the first five goals of the game unanswered was a sign of what was to come as Douttas took a 33-point lead to the first change.
Craigieburn rallied by having the better of the play in the first 10 minutes of the second quarter, but could only close to within 26 points before a Douttas' burst of four goals in nine minutes to make the difference 50 points.
Reigning Reynolds medallist Barry Brooks was left ineffective in the ruck for Craigieburn by a Stars midfield with far greater appetite for the contest and desire to run hard into open space.
Angelo Lekkas was thrown forward for Craigieburn in the third quarter, but his one-on-one with Barham had been the only thing keeping the Douttas forward off the scoreboard in the first half.
A dynamic display of marking both overhead and on the lead had Barham hit the scoreboard in emphatic fashion as he kicked all four of his goals in the third quarter.
Craigieburn's Jesse Davies was named best while Roland Hall and Shannon Bennett fought hardest against the barrage.
* Greenvale outlasted Pascoe Vale to win by 15 points in the battle of club versus old boys at Raeburn Reserve.
Former Greenvale players Denis Bicer, Hanifi Pekes and Ben Smith were all playing for Pascoe Vale, but Greenvale had the answers in spite of inaccurate kicking to triumph 11.21 (87) to 10.12 (72).
* In division 1, the biggest surprise of the season so far was at Hadfield where the Hawks rolled Airport West by 24 points. Leading start to finish, Hadfield climbed out of the bottom six with the 18.4 (112) to 13.10 (88) win.