The reigning AFL Canberra Mulrooney medallist had begun to get down on himself in search of a breakout performance in his rookie NEAFL season.

Finally, he has broken through - and it opened the floodgates as the Canberra Demons surged to the biggest win in club history.

Canberra thrashed the Northern Territory Thunder by 145 points to give their NEAFL finals hopes a huge boost at Manuka Oval on Saturday.

The Demons moved four points clear of seventh-placed Sydney University with a 28.19 (187) to 6.6 (42) thumping of the Thunder.

Evans had 29 disposals and four goals in a timely reminder of the class that saw him claim AFL Canberra's top accolade.

"He's been a little bit down on himself over the past couple of weeks," Demons coach Kade Klemke said.

"He's had a bit of an injury and it has taken him a while to adapt to the speed of this level. Fitness is never a question, but probably more the skills and time.

"Today he was fantastic. The thing he has got is his work rate, and the four goals he kicked were from his work rate. It was really good reward for effort.

"He has been good all year, he has probably been our seventh or eighth best player each week, so he hasn't been noticed in the [top six] best.

"Today he was clearly our best on, which is great for him. The guys around him helped, he just played his role and that's all you can ask."

Andrew Swan joined Evans at the top of the goal scorers list with four, while Harry Carr, Alex Paech, Tom Faul, Mitch Hardie and Mitch Maguire all booted three apiece.

There was so nearly another name added to the scoresheet as time ran out but Canberra captain Aaron Bruce's shot faded.

To him it matters little - the league's newly-crowned most-capped player is just happy to take four competition points away from his 155^th NEAFL appearance.

"He was fantastic. The boys really love Brucey and his leadership," Klemke said.

"Even just to see at the end of the game, the boys got him forward, it wasn't even us as the coaching staff. The boys made a change to get him forward and tried to get the footy to him.

"He has done a lot for this footy club, he has been through the hard yards, and to see a performance like today, Brucey would have been the most pleased.

"That's what he is passionate about, the team, he has done the individual stuff but he wants team success."

To find it they will have to outlast rivals like Sydney University and the Suns.

Klemke knows "it's going to be tight" - even storming past the club's previous record winning margin of 83 doesn't change that.

"But there's not much more that you could do than today, that's exactly what you want from your team."

AT A GLANCE

NEAFL round 16 - CANBERRA DEMONS 28.19 (187) bt NT THUNDER 6.6 (42)

Goals: Canberra: K.Evans 4, A.Swan 4, H.Carr 3, A.Paech 3, T.Faul 3, M.Hardie 3, M.Maguire 3, L.Meline 2, J.Osborne 1, R.Pollock 1, J.Powell 1. NT: B.Rioli 3, C.Williams 1, D.Johnston 1, N.Lockyer 1.