The reigning Ballarat Football League champion awoke from its premiership hangover with a 102-point belting of North City at AUSTAR Arena.

The Porter Plant Lions had not won in three matches, with their season at the crossroads.

What emerged after the week off yesterday, however, looked a lot more like the Redan that menaced opponents last season.

Despite the less than convincing start to the year, the Lions are just one match out of the top six ahead of a season-defining clash against East Point at Eastern Oval on Sunday .

First-year Redan coach Shane Snibson said it was too early to say the Lions were genuinely back as a contender.

But he agreed the break had allowed his team to freshen up.

"We showed some improvement and we've started our season," Snibson said.

"The group was very keen to redeem our loss to Ballarat and the week off definitely helped us freshen up."

Redan's regular contributors, including Jarrod Edwards, Julian Field, Ash Barker and Sam Giblett all played important roles in the club's first win of the season, while Paul McMahon finished with nine goals.

However, it was the injection of youth through first-gamers Isaac Smith, Dean Matthews and Tim Dalton, that gave the Lions a faster, leaner look.

"We made changes to address the leg-speed issue," Snibson said.

"All our debutants played well, which was very encouraging."

After respectable performances against Sunbury and Ballarat, North City was dealt a stinging reality check about life in the BFL.

"Against Ballarat there was some positive things we took out of it to learn from, but (yesterday) was just a shocker," North City playing coach Aaron Clark said.

"Not having a win at this stage does affect your confidence."

Ballarat, East Point and Sunbury all recorded victories over the weekend's fifth round of the RegionalOne BFL season. Ballarat and East Point easily dealt with the winless Bacchus Marsh and Sebastopol respectively on Saturday,

while Sunbury fought off the improving Lakers by a goal at Clarke Oval.

But the most impressive team in the competition continues to be Darley, the Devils shrugging off Melton at MacPherson Park.

Darley faces potentially its toughest challenge so far this year when it hosts Sunbury next weekend.

North City, meanwhile, takes on a Lake Wendouree team that needs to rebound after two close losses.