One year on from rewriting the record books en route to premiership glory, all eyes were on South Gambier when it ran onto its home ground to open the new season and its title defence.
Like most teams the Demons went through a high turnover of players losing 15 from the all-conquering 2021 team and their rivals hoped the new-look team would not be as daunting this season.
However, a shockwave was sent through the competition as South’s new team and coaching staff showed its high-class skills to cruise to another formidable victory.
Despite losing many high-quality players, the Demons list was still oozing with classy names such as Tess Andrews, Melanie Bateman and Lauren and Chelsea Frost.
Their talents were on full display from the opening bounce as South took control and did not look back.
The Demons banged home six goals in a barn-storming first term which set the tone for what was to come.
The Frost sisters provided plenty of speedy run and carry through the midfield to create countless opportunities for the fresh forward line.
Following the departures of Neave Delaney and Emma and Simone MacDonald, South had a big hole to fill, but new coach Simon Radley appears to have found the perfect answer.
The Demons new team is loaded with young and energetic players and fresh faces such as Anja Gardsenni, Aidene Parr and Madison Zuijdveld who stepped up scoring two goals each.
Chelsea Frost also ran into the 50-metre arch slotting a double, while Madelyn Sutherland and Jarrah Altschwager also got stuck in on debut finding the big sticks, as did the more experienced Alice Tentye and Maddy Wormald.
The Magpies were outplayed in all areas, but when they were able to press forward many of their thrusts were silenced by Andrews, who was stationed at half back and was the key figure behind countless rebounds.
After four one-sided quarters South secured a comfortable 90-0 victory with Andrews, Dakota Trotter and the Frost sisters standouts.
Team leaders Jamie Ryan, Emmason Ilsley and Taysha James fought hard for Kalangadoo, but could not trouble the scorers.
After the season opened with a blow out, Penola and Casterton Sandford kept fans entertained with a tightly fought battle to be the best in blue and white.
Having finally enjoyed a long stretch without any border blues, the Victorians came out of the blocks hard.
Led by inspirational figure Scarlett Jarrad, the Cats scored three critical goals to gain the early upper hand.
Penola was not completely outplayed scoring two majors from as many scoring shots, but they allowed Casterton Sandford to find holes in the backline and head into the opening break with a confidence-boosting lead of seven points.
But the game was turned on its head when play resumed as the Eagles found full flight.
The Cats were starved of possession and did not trouble the scorers in the second term which allowed Penola to snatch the lead by kicking three unanswered goals.
The fightback was initiated by Caroline McGrath, who owned the western wing collecting countless possessions.
The likes of Paris Ackland, Kristy Hackwill and Emma MacDonald also won plenty of the Sherrin as Penola ran Casterton off its feet.
The Cats struggled to respond in the second half scoring the solitary goal in a low-scoring second half.
However, Jarrad was a shining light playing a gritty style of football wrestling a number of turnovers in a tighter third term.
In the end the Eagles were the superior side and won by an even 20 points.
As the morning clouds parted for the afternoon sunshine, perennial runners-up Kybybolite showed it meant business by thumping a raw Kongorong team.
Kyby was blessed with countless contributors to pump 35 scoring shots including 20 goals across the four quarters.
Dellie Brown, Georgia Gill and Ella Jones were the chief architects of the 134-point triumph, while they were spoilt for choice of scoring options in the forward 50 as five players found the big sticks on multiple occasions.
Sophie Henschke had a day out kicking the first bag of five goals for the season, while Heidi Cory battled hard for the Hawks all afternoon.
On their final day of football last year North Gambier and Millicent were battling away for seventh spot and the pair met again in the opening round of 2022.
In 2021 the Tigers emerged on top and history repeated on Sunday when the yellow and black showed a fighting fury to win comfortably by 25 points.
Fronted by Fiona Young, Lorrelle Walker and Nashemia McNamara, North started strong creating nine of the first 10 scoring shots.
But the Tigers could only nail two of them to keep the Saints interested heading into the second half.
Despite the battle for possession remaining tight, North was able to cut off the majority of Millicent’s scoring options restricting the side to just eight points by the final siren.
North Gambier coach Marcus Thomson said it was extremely pleasing to start so positively after an edgy afternoon where the likes of Kalli Brown and Sienna Laslett kept the Saints the coach on his toes.
“It is a great way to start the season and good for the team’s confidence,” he said.
“I certainly did not write off Millicent at any point because they were hanging around and did not give up.
“Between our midfield and half-backs, I think we set up really well behind the ball to stop as many inside 50s as possible.
“Preseason went well because we gained five after losing five and everyone chipped in on game day which is good moving forward.”
