In more ways than one it was Sunbury's day at City Oval on Saturday, with all grades of football winning and the A Grade netballers running away to an impressive win against a strong opponent in Redan.
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And it was the debut of champion goaler Rebecca Hicks that really stood out in the victory, in an engrossing duel with Erin Reilly under the Sunbury net, shooting 42 goals on the day.
It was the start and the end that eventually proved to be the difference in a clash of high quality, which did not reflect the overall difference between the sides.
The 21-goal margin 54-33, was probably double what it should have been, but saying that, Sunbury was the better of the two sides throughout the contest and deserved the win.
Sunbury opened up a 12-goal lead early in the second quarter and that was pretty much where it stayed throughout the first three quarters
Redan chased the win early in the last quarter, swinging Riley to goal shooter and the home side briefly rallied, but Riley would go down midway through the quarter with either a cramp or a calf injury, which allowed Sunbury to take control late, blowing the final margin out beyond 20.
Sunbury coach Kim Bailey said she was pleased to get an important win on the road early, but said she felt the connection between her players still needed some work.
"They are a hard team Redan, they match-up quite well against us," she said. "I felt we just kept chipping away.
"Obviously we had a couple of new girls on the court today, Sarah Croft (who played centre and wing defence) and obviously Bec, so we just needed to get used to them as well. I think there's a lot more improvement that we'll see coming, so I'm pretty pleased with that."
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Bailey said she understood the move of Riley out of defence as Redan chased the win.
"I thought she did a wonderful job of closing our attackers down," she said. "So that gave us some opportunities to get some nice passages together late.
"We're starting to get familiar with each other, hopefully we'll just keep getting better and better."
In other games, a new-look Darley attack was able to get the job done against East Point in a close battle, winning 46-37.
Ella Closter was important up front for Darley with 20 goals, shooting at 74 per cent on the day as the Devils managed to pull away late, but it was the defence that shone out most, with the likes of Matilda Elliott and Anna Lawley managing to hold the East Point shooters to less than 70 per cent on the day, ultimately proving to be the difference between the sides.
The thriller of the round occurred at Sebastopol with Lake Wendouree winning a high-quality contest over the Burra 51-49.
It was the shooting display from both sides that kept this tight, but special mention must go to Lakers goal shooter Melanie Allen who his 34 of 38 attempts, providing a reliable option throughout the contest in the narrow win.
Ballarat proved too polished for Bacchus Marsh, but it was pleasing to see a much-more competitive Cobras outfit in the opening game of the season, Ballarat winning 50-30.
It is the start of a long way back for the Bacchus Marsh team after a disappointing 2023 campaign, but they will be pleased to get a competitive performance away in the first game.
Ballarat was led in the midcourt by the likes of Brooke O'Brien, who played a number of roles in the midcourt, Ruby Lovel in wing defence and centre Emily Jelesic which created numerous turnovers and gave the goalers more opportunities to score throughout the contest.
There was another 20-goal margin in the Melton derby, with Melton South winning 49-29. Both teams had plenty of chances throughout the contest to hit the scoreboard, but it was the Panthers who made the most of their opportunities in the convincing performance.
