Will Young announced himself to the Ballarat Football League in no uncertain terms as he inspired North Ballarat City to end Melton South’s unbeaten run at Melton on Tuesday.
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The former Adelaide Crow bagged seven goals in the 36-point win.
Young was recruited from Newlyn in the CHFL to anchor North City’s attack, and he did that and more.
Derick Micallef was also provided mayhem up forward with five goals to help nullify Brendan Fevola’s five majors for the Panthers.
Melton South managed to overcome slow starts to get the points in its previous outings against Melton and Sunbury.
After being on the end of a seven-goal burst by North Ballarat City in the first quarter, the Panthers threatened to again salvage the game when it twice hit the lead in the third term on the back of individual efforts by Fevola and Mitch Banner .
However, this time Melton South was unable to sustain the comeback as North Ballarat City went away again with a seven-goal last term.
North City coach Jordyn Burke was particulary pleased with the way his players responded when Melton South got a run on.
"I guess a lot of people wouldn’t have expected that, but we fully expected to come down here and play in the manner we did.
"It was really pleasing, particularly against a side which is playing its third game. This definitely gets our season started on the right note," he said.
"We had plenty of contributors today which takes the pressure off individuals to perform”.
Melton South joint coach Sean Triplett rued missed opportunities.
“A lot of guys missed shots on goal today and it just really hurt us.
"It’s a confidence thing and it's just a matter of us saying to ourselves they we can kick this and just get the job done.
"We won the inside 50 count very easily and it was just a matter of us not being able to capitalise on our opportunities going forward," he said.
The North Ballarat display rounded out an intriguing opening round in which like City, Darley announced its intention to be at the forefront of the premiership race by comfortably accounting for reigning premier.
These came after Lake Wendouree had to rely on a goal kicked after the final siren to get over a lively Redan and Sunbury indicated that despite a mass exodus of grand final players it is not out of the hunt to again be part of finals.
East Point and Ballarat showed how evenly matched they are with a draw.
Having played more than anyone else after two marquee standalone matches, Melton South now gets a break with a bye.