The Bloods took second spot on the ladder from West and condemned the Hawks to its fourth straight loss in a largely impressive 39 point victory.
The turnaround in fortunes of both these teams could not be more marked.
The Hawks won its first four games handsomely including beating Centrals twice by more than 150 points and then by 10 goals and seemed the only side capable of pushing the undefeated Port.
After eight rounds West is four and four losing to the other top four contenders and while it should beat Sollies next week it will be looking forward to the Country Championships break in the first weekend in July.
For Central Augusta the six goal win completes a dramatic form reversal after an indifferent start to the season.
Central has now won four out of the past five games.
Ultimately West lost the game in the first quarter as Central kicked six goals conceding only two in reply.
It was the Bloods midfield that not only capitalised on some Hawks indiscipline and Mark Fuller's tap dominance but that they kicked goals as well leaving the Hawks spread too thin in coverage.
Despite Keatley being blanketed by Ray Stapleton, and buffeted in pack situations and throw-ins by the other utilities, he was effective and drew attention away from midfield partners Callary and Yeomans who each kicked two goals, while forwards Dawson and McKerlie each added majors.
The second quarter was a much tougher contest with each team adding four goals and West appeared to be working its way back into contention but in doing so were a little "agricultural".
Deep in defence Bullman and Lawson were solid and the Hawks very effective from the kick-in restarts, something the Bloods will have to look at.
Off wing Baker assumed some of the ruck duties allowing Fuller some rest.
Williams took over from Fullerton on Hayden Warren as Dodd and Yeomans made the quarter their own with some outstanding individual and team efforts and Keatley's perennial tagger Anesbury was given a job to do on McKerlie such was his impact.
A fierce start to the "premiership quarter" as West continued pegging back the Bloods late in the second term.
However, Callary, Dodd and McKerlie combined to goal after Harrison's inspirational major put the control back with Hayes' charges.
Up forward for the Hawks, Bullman had three marks.
Scott Benbow was making the most of limited opportunities with three to the major break and Hayden Warren was trying to win the game by himself but at times came unstuck as Williams squeezed everything out of every contest to stymie the match-winning abilities of the youngster.
Overall a scrappy term with Central looking at times as though it thought the win would just happen.
Up by five goals with half an hour to go The Bloods still had the capacity to lose from here and it would surely have to lift a little to ensure the result.
Once again early the Hawks created opportunities to kick goals and put scoreboard pressure on its opponents and when Jordan Warren streamed out of defence and got the ball to Dadleh who, with a centering chip, found Hayden Warren the resulting goal gave the impression a "come-from-behind" win was brewing.
However Collins and Warren himself had subsequent opportunities to put the torch to Central but both were missed.
Then McKerlie marked and Yeomans goaled and the lead was back to six goals.
The Hawks just would not give up with Dadleh and then Collins kicking goals as Coach Whitelum moved Bullman to the back half, Jordan Warren into the middle, Singleton into ruck and while they all paid off Centrals kept answering every challenge as its bench was just that much deeper.
Coach Hayes would have been happier as he criticised his team for "taking the foot off the pedal" the week before against Sollies.
But this week while not always firing on all cylinders it kicked the last three goals of the game to round out a six -goal win as Archibald, Harrison and Ruffles goaled.
Some critical match-ups for West included dashing defender Jordan Warren who subdued the livewire forward pocket Dawson (who kicked seven last week) and set up attack from deep in defence, Stapleton who minimised Keatley's output, Singleton was excellent on the under-rated Archibald, and Hobbs did a manful job on centre-half forward Anthony Ruffles.
The Bloods had winners in some unlikely places as Connor Harrison outshone Dadleh in not only keeping the Central nemesis quiet but later kicked two cracking goals himself.
Resting ruck Baker played on a wing and stopped Pete Bowey from touching the ball, and Nathan Thiele was rugged and disciplined behind the ball.
Perhaps at the core of West's loss was the fact that skipper Adam Zubrinich and utility Collins had quieter days by their standards, McIntosh and Dadleh were beaten, Stapleton subsumed by stropping Keatley at the expense of his own expansive game, Noll, Hobbs and Anesbury were clearly not match fit, first-ruck and utility Daniel Buckskin retired, Higgins, Foulis, Carn and Damien Stapleton were unavailable, Mark Benbow was out with groin troubles, rover Lukich strained a hamstring early in the game and the SGL leading goal-kicker Matthew Woodforde was unsighted, leaving the Hawks undermanned and thus it underachieved.
But Central won the game, rather than the Hawks losing it.
Neither side was at its best.
Central showed some good signs and Westies worked hard and should not be too concerned about the loss.
Final score - Central Augusta 18.11.119 defeated West Augusta 12.8.80.
Best Players: Centrals - Yeomans, Williams, Fuller, Dodd, Mc Kerlie, Baker, Harrison and Thiele. West - J Warren, H Warren, J Bullman, R Stapleton, Hobbs, Davies and Scharenberg.
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