While far from the perfect performance, White would have liked what he saw from his side in the 15.9 (99) to 11.8 (74) win over a young and plucky opponent.

The Lions of the Sunbury variety were quick out of the blocks in the contest, opening up a three-goal lead early in the first quarter. But at times early they were their own worst enemy, with some costly turnovers reducing the lead to less than a kick at the first break.

While Sunbury held the lead for much of the game, Redan briefly took the lead in the third quarter, but a small fracas on the grand stand side of the ground seemed to fire up the Sunbury team which kicked the final four goals of the third term to open up what would ultimately be the gap between the sides.

White said he was happy to walk away with a solid first-up win.

"There was probably a five to 10 minute patch in the third we'll have to have a look at, but we finished off the game well, that was awesome," he said.

"I think that little bit of physicality probably spurred my boys on a little bit. I thought we were a bi flat, it just took the one incident and it switched us back on, it was really fun to watch."

White said he was excited to get his first win as a coach at a club he had always loved.

"It's not very often you come back after 20 years and get a win, we'll celebrate this tonight," he said.

"I might even give Kenny (Hinkley) and Dimma (Hardwick) a call, I think it was something like 11 losses for Dimma first up, and I was part of all of those, it's nice for the first one to come out.

"Redan and us have had a massive rivalry since I was a kid, you'd see all the blues that would happen, to get one over them in the first game is pretty special."

Redan coach Gary Learmonth said he saw plenty he liked in the performance, despite not getting the result.

"I think probably their experience in the key moments was probably the difference on the day," he said. "We'd get close but they would always be able to respond.

"They were 13 points at half-time, we got a couple of points up in the third, but they kicked the next four. We didn't respond to that bit of niggle, which you have to be able to do. You need to be able to switch back on which we probably didn't do well enough.

"There's enough talent out there, no matter the age, it's a matter of taking the chances."

SCOREBOARD

Redan 3.3, 5.3, 7.7, 11.8 (74) def by Sunbury 4.1, 7.4, 11.8,15.9 (99)

GOALS: (R) G Bell 4, M Boyer 2, R Collins 2, L Farnsworth 1, L George 1, H Lawson 1 (S) J Sutton 5, P Scanlon 3, J Guthrie 2, F Ampulski 1, N Doyle 1, M Lewis 1, M McLean 1 BEST: (R) G Bell, T Bond, M Boyer, H Lawson, J Werts, K Jess (S) N Wood, J Sutton, C Bramble, W Wright, B Eales, J Hannett

An opening round win on the road is always tough, so Ballarat would be pleased to walk away with the points in a tough encounter against Bacchus Marsh.

The Swans 11.19 (85) to 10.9 (69) win wasn't won until very late with the visitors booting the final three goals of the contest, after being inaccurate all day.

But both coaches would have been pleased with the workrate of their sides with very little separating the sides until the final moments of the contest.

Ballarat coach Chris Maple said any win on the road was a good result.

"The goalkicking didn't go overly well, we got on target in the end. It was a very competitive game for the whole game, both teams very strong in the contest," he said.

"I though Bacchus Marsh were excellent in the air, Jake Owen up forward and Will Lalor down back was outstanding for them.

"I thought we were fairly consistent across the board, Paddy Simpson was good, but off our recruits did well, all pretty much in the midfield, the Rinaldi brothers, Harry Butler, we were pleased with that.

"Bacchus Marsh are difficult to beat no matter where they are on the ladder, to go down there and have a win in round one is good. Our record on the road wasn't good last year, to get away is handy."

Bacchus Marsh coach Dennis Armfield said he saw plenty he liked but felt his team just ran out of legs in the last quarter.

"They jumped us really early and probably didn't make the most of the opportunity to put scoreboard pressure on, but I was really pleased with the way we had the ascendancy and momentum in the second and third quarter.

"To their credit they stuck at it all day and put the last few on. We had a few of our boys go down cramping in the last quarter and I think that probably told in the end."

SCOREBOARD

Bacchus Marsh 3.0, 6.5, 10.6, 10.9 (69) def by Ballarat 3.6, 6.10, 8.14, 11.19 (85)

GOALS: (BM) D Armfield 2, J Freeman 2, J Kovacevic 2, J Owen 2, C Freake, J McCreedy 1 (B) J Drever 3, C Wellings 2, H Butler 1, N Drever 1, Z Maple 1, Z Rinaldi 1, P Simpson 1, B Wardley 1 BEST: (BM) W Lalor, J Parente, L Goetz, J McCreery, J Owen, J Kovacevic (B) P Simpson, C Wellings, A Bade, J Drever, L Dalgleish

Darley might have unveiled a premiership flag on the day, but their focus was 100 per cent on season 2024 after a smashing victory over East Point.

It was a first half to remember for the Devils, let by the impressive Brett Bewley who kicked three early goals, leading his side to an 11-goal-to-nil first half and a 70-point lead.

While East Point were able to change up some tactics in the seconds and finally found their range on the scoreboard, it was all one-way traffic for the home side which won in a canter.

Darley coach Dan Jordan said he couldn't fault the first half performance of his team.

"We put the pressure on them early, it was a disciplined performance and we stuck to the plan we were trying to execute, but it's early days," he said.

"The flag was last year, we wanted to make a point of that, it was in the rear vision mirror, we want to be a side who looks forward and try to improve.

"Particularly early in the year, you really don't know what each side is going to offer up, so our focus was solely on how we were going to play. Still got plenty to work on."

Jordan said he felt that during the practice matches his team had been a bit patchy in parts,

"We really focused in our training the past couple of weeks that we wanted to bring it and sustain it and I think our first five minutes really set the scene. It looked like we came to play, it's a credit to our boys and their attitude for the contest.

"We know East are a young and particularly talented side, it was nice to be able to make a statement early."

Jordan said Adam Azzopardi was particularly influential, making every possession count

"I loved the input of our younger guys, Adam played a bit through mid-forward and was clean, he looked calm and composed in traffic.

"We had Will Johnson play as a deep forward, Brady Wright started to have an influence. I think our improvement this year is going to come from the boys that have played that 15-30 games."

SCOREBOARD

Darley 7.4, 11.9, 17.11, 21.14 (140) d East Point 0.4, 0.5, 4.6 6.8 (44)

GOALS: (D) W Johnson 4, An Azzopardi 3, B Bewley 3, D Matricardi 3, B Wright 3, Ad Azzopardi 2, D Bishop 1, J Cadman 1, J Tanner 1 (EP) B McDougall 3, J Jeffrey 2, T Conlon 1 BEST: (D) Ad Azzopardi, Z Le Huray, An Azzopardi, B Wright, B Bewley, W Johnson (EP) T Conlan, J Jeffrey, A Molan, L Canny, B McDougall, J Van Meel

A 12-goal to one second quarter blast has sent Melton on its way to a huge first up win over in the derby against Melton South.

Early days this match looked as though it would be competitive with just two goals separating the sides at the first break, but Melton kicked into a different gear in the second quarter with 12 goals, to open up a match-winning lead at the main break.

While the game was decided, what would have pleased coach Troy Scoble most would be his side's willingness to go on with the contest, adding a further 18 goals in the second half, nine in each quarter, to race away to a 33.13 (211) to 3.5 (23) win.

Braedan Kight starred for the winners, named in the best players with a seven-goal haul while Riley Walker and Lyle Borg were also prolific.

Melton South know it is coming from a long way back and an opening round clash against a team hell bent on redemption after a disappointing finals exit last year was never going to be an easy first up task,.

The Panthers would be happy with the early competitiveness but will need to be able to sustain that for longer to be in contests throughout the season.

Melton coach Troy Scoble said he felt a few players had gone into this season with a point to prove after a disappointing finish to last year.

"The start of the game was how we expected it to be, really competitive for the first part of the game," he said. "We did feel that the back end of the first quarter we were able to settle into the game a bit, get it more to the way we wanted it to look.

"From there we were able to convert that onto the scoreboard in the remaining three quarters."

Scoble said the most pleasing aspect of the win was being able to kick on in the second half.

"We actually spoke about that at half time," he said. "We talked about 'what sort of team do we want to be this year?' Even though it's round one, when you get those sorts of opportunities you need to make the most of them.

"I thought right up to the last minute of the game, the pressure was there, the want to tackle was there, so I thought that was the most pleasing aspect."

SCOREBOARD

Melton South 1.3, 2.5, 3.5, 3.5 (23) def by Melton 3.3, 15.7, 24.9, 33.13 (211)

GOALS: (MS) B Collins 1, M Fino 1, J Welch 1 (M) B Kight 7, L Carter 5, K Borg, R Ryan 4, R Carter 2, J Kight 2, J Walker 2, C Farrugia 1, L Heaney, 1, M Scoble 1, B Sullivan 1, B Sullivan 1, L Watkins 1 BEST: (MS) B Collins, P Veszpremi, R Rousch, M Fino, J Muse, D George (M) R Walker, B Kight, J Hickey, K Borg, L Walker, R Davis

Sebastopol opened up the coaching career of Tony Lockyer in style with an 80-point win over Lake Wendouree, but the final margin was far from a reflection on the contest with the Lakers taking it right up to their opponents for three quarters, before injury eventually took its toll

The Lakers eventually pulled away with the last six goals of the contest to win 17.16 (118) to 5.8 (38) with Luke Kiel among the stars of the night with four goals.

Lockyer was full of praise for both sides after the contest, saying the match hung in the balance for most of the night, before his team was able to kick away late.

"To Lakers credit, they really cracked in," he said. "Early on I thought we were able to set a pretty high intensity and continued it most of the way through the game.

"We couldn't quite break away from them in the middle part of the game, I really thought the Lakers were playing quite well, but it was pleasing we were able to pull away in the end, it was a good reward for effort."

Lockyer said the night game conditions made the game a bit more slippery than usual, so he was happy to walk away with a convincing win on the scoreboard.

"Conditions made it a made it a little more contested, it was a pretty tough, physical game," he said.

For the debut coach, it was a reward for effort after a long pre-season.

"It was a nice result, just to see parts of the game plan work really well was pleasing for the group," he said. "It gives us a bit of belief, but you learn from the good things and the bad things in the game and you've got to move on to next week pretty quickly."

Lake Wendouree coach Rohan Brown said losing midfielders Jayden Wright (ankle) in the second quarter and Ben Hayes (calf) left his side vulnerable late in the contest.

"We're disappointed as a group they got us late, but we were down rotations," he said. "I thought we got done early in speed and transition, but they are a sharp side, really well coached and they are going to be in it a long way.

"We wrestled back a little bit of momentum, the back half of the second quarter was good, we outscored them in the third quarter as well.

"When you're down a couple of midfield rotations, it can run away from you in the end."

SCOREBOARD

Sebastopol 5.3, 9.8, 11.9, 17.16 (118) d Lake Wendouree 2.3, 3.5, 5.7, 5.8 (38)

GOALS: (S) L Kiel 4, A Forbes 3, C Dummett 2, J Fletcher 2, D Widgery 2, M Baker 1, T Lockyer 1, J McDonald 1, B Medwell 1 (LW) B Thompson 3, F Fogaty 1, J Jarred 1 BEST: (S) R McNally, L Kiel, R O'Keefe, J Hill, J McDonald, J Bambury (LW) B Ryan, T Collins, B Helyar, B Thompson, L O'Connell

MELTON 4, DARLEY 4, SEBASTOPOL 4, SUNBURY 4, BALLARAT 4, BACCHUS MARSH 0, Redan 0, Lake Wendouree 0, East Point 0, Melton South 0, North Ballarat N/A