HDFNL ROUND 1: Saints secure first win over Colbo for a decade

HEATHCOTE opened its 2023 Heathcote District league season on Saturday by accomplishing a feat it hadn't achieved for 10 years - beating Colbinabbin.

The Saints are shaping as a side to be reckoned with this year as they hunt their first finals berth for a decade and at the first opportunity showed just that with their 33-point victory over last year's preliminary finalist.

The Saints kicked five goals to two in the first quarter on the way to a 11.11 (77) to 6.8 (44) victory at Colbinabbin's M.J. Morgan Oval.

"It was a fantastic win; it has been 10 years since we last beat Colbinabbin, so it was an awesome performance by the boys and everyone is up and about with the result," Heathcote coach Andrew Saladino said.

"Today shows that we can compete with these better sides now and should give us great confidence going into games against those teams that are going to be around the mark.

"We went into today with confidence and it has been a long time since Heathcote has gone into round one with that confident feeling, so it's great for our belief today."

The visiting Saints set the tone with their strong opening term to lead 5.4 to 2.2 at quarter-time, before adding three goals to one in the second term to take further control.

"We were up and about early and I put that down to our midfield group," Saladino said.

"I put it on our midfield group at the start of the game to lead the way because we loaded up in there with Braden Padmore, Jesse Davies and Liam Jacques and the boys got the job done."

Recruit Davies was Heathcote's best player in his Saints' debut.

"I know how good a player Jesse is and he showed that today. He has come into the season off the back of a serious arm injury and I've said all along I think he can be one of the better midfielders in the competition," Saladino said.

"He gave us that bigger body we probably lacked last year through the middle and it was a really pleasing start by him today."

As well as Davies playing a key role through the midfield, the Saints also got nine goals out of four of their fellow recruits - Callum Birch (three), Shannon Dowsett (two), Corey Grindlay (two) and Liam Jacques (two).

Colbinabbin's better players were led by Logan Fitzgerald and Laine Fitzgerald (two goals).

The last time Heathcote had beaten Colbinabbin was in round seven of 2013 before losing their next 16 against the Grasshoppers until Saturday's breakthrough triumph.

The closest game of the opening round was the tussle between two of last season's finalists North Bendigo and Mount Pleasant.

For the second year in a row the Bulldogs and Blues played out a hard-fought game at Atkins Street decided by a kick with North Bendigo winning by six points, 9.15 (69) to 9.9 (63).

Tellingly on a wet day the Bulldogs applied early scoreboard pressure, kicking five goals to two in the first quarter to force the Blues to have to play catch-up football.

"We got a good start before the rain came and the game turned into a contested slogfest," North Bendigo coach Rob Bennett said.

"We did a lot of work in the pre-season on the way we want to structure up and play in dry weather, but that went out the window today when the rain came in the second quarter."

The Gus Roulston Cup for best player on the ground was awarded to North Bendigo on-baller Nick Waterson.

"Nick played like it was a dry weather day. He picked up plenty of possessions and used the ball really well," Bennett said.

Bulldogs' ruckman Jeremy Lambden picked up from where he left off last season with a strong game.

"He battled hard all day... the last quarter went for 35 minutes because of a lot of stoppages and he was still going strong at the end," Bennett said.

Blues coach Adam Baird was pleased with how his side fought to get back into the game after being jumped early.

"One of my main points before the game was the start is going to be key, but we were four goals to one down early," Baird said.

"We had more of the ball after quarter-time and we played better, but we just couldn't quite bridge the gap.

"I thought our boys fought hard after quarter-time, but we just didn't start well enough."

The Blues named defender Will Wallace, who had the key match-up on gun Bulldogs' forward Dylan Klemm, their best player.

For the first time since 2016 Elmore has made a winning start to the season.

The visiting Bloods opened their 2023 campaign with a 39-point win over Huntly, 11.11 (77) to 5.8 (38).

"It was a really good way to start the season. We played a great brand of team footy and didn't have any rotations for the last quarter-and-a-half," Elmore coach Dylan Friedberger said.

"Just before half-time the rain started hammering down and stayed like that for the rest of the game, which I didn't mind."

Decisively for the Bloods when the rain set in they had built a 27-point lead at half-time, 7.6 to 3.3.

Captain Dylan Gordon playing at full-back was the best for the Bloods.

"Dylan was fantastic with not just his intercept marking, but he was also really vocal and his directing of traffic was huge for us down there," said Friedberger, who relished his return to the field after several head knocks cut his season short last year.

"Our midfield led by Daniel Russell in the ruck along with Nick Kellow and Xavier Kellow were great."

New Elmore forward Jordan Buckley was the leading goalkicker on the ground with three.

The Hawks under the guidance of new co-coaches Harry Whittle and Jayden Cordy were best served by Harrison Campbell and defender Steve Kairn.

Letichville-Gunbower and White Hills slogged it out in four quarters of persistent rain, with the Demons finishing 37-point victors.

Tipped as one of the strong premiership fancies this season, the Demons won 8.15 (63) to 3.8 (26) at Leitchville.

The Demons kept the home side goalless for three quarters, with all three of the Bombers' goals coming during the third term.

"It was tough going and a real slog all game and we're happy to get the four points first-up," Demons co-coach Jack Fallon said.

"Leitchy is a young side and definitely brought the heat throughout the game, but we were able to do what we needed to do to get the win."

The best for the Demons was led by midfield recruit Ben Taylor, who reveled in the conditions given his history of playing in the Ballarat league.

"Ben played really well; he would have had 35-odd touches and was really clean with the footy," Fallon said.

Liam Bartels and recruit Tom Brereton were other standouts for the Demons, who have the chance to freshen up after the tough slog with a bye this week.

The best players for the Bombers was led by ruckman Jobee Warde, who like North Bendigo big man Lambden picked up from where he left off last year.

"I thought we were able to match them through periods and when we got our game going I definitely thought we were competitive," said new Bombers' coach Shannon Keam.

"We know we're coming from a long way back, not just physically, but mentally as well and you could see that at stages with our concentration levels, which is something we spoke about after the game."

The Bombers now prepare for another stern test away against Heathcote.

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