James Lloyd and his Murchison-Toolamba teammates have set the early tone in Kyabram District League football by starting the season with a pair of 100-point-plus wins.
Lloyd has kicked 21 goals, including 12 against Violet Town on Saturday, to have his team among four that have started the season with two successive wins.
Merrigum is the next team in Murchison-Toolamba’s sights. The Bulldogs were brought back to earth with a 78-point loss to Nagambie on Saturday.
In round one, a vastly different Merrigum team from that which took the field in 2023 had a 26-point opening round win against Rushworth.
On Saturday, however, at Nagambie it was last year’s grand finalist that turned its round one form around completely.
The Lakers were beaten by Murchison-Toolamba in round one by 130 points.
They returned to the winner’s list on the weekend with a 12-goal to one second half.
Merrigum had captain Zak Parkinson back in its ranks for the match, but was without key forward Matthew Wild.
Wild kicked six goals in the first round and the Bulldogs struggled to find a regular avenue to goal against Nagambie.
Jake Gascoyne and Merrigum’s best player from last weekend, Leitchville-Gunbower recruit Shelby Ludlow-Lambrick, combined to kick four of the Bulldogs’ six goals.
Gascoyne has four goals from his first two senior games with the Bulldogs, after crossing from Kyabram, but is more of a ground level option in attack.
Ludlow-Lambrick was again the Bulldogs’ best player, while Brayden Hall was playing alongside his 49-year-old father for a second successive week and finished in the best half dozen players on the ground.
Co-coach Darcy Collins and Brad Taylor had a tough task in defence, Nagambie having five multiple goalkickers.
• Lancaster will face Rushworth this weekend, 20 years after the teams competed in the Kyabram district league grand final, aiming to hone its skills for a replay of last year’s grand final.
Following the round three match between the 2004 KDL grand final combatants, Lancaster will face Nagambie and then the following week has the all conquering Murchison-Toolamba.
The Wombats beat Murchison-Toolamba to win the 2022 grand final, before completing back-to-back titles in 2023 with a one-sided result against Nagambie.
On Saturday, the Wombats disposed of another regular finalist, Shepparton East, by 37 points to remain one of four unbeaten teams (along with Murchison-Toolamba, Avenel and Tallygaroopna).
Six goals to one after half-time extended Lancaster’s five-point half-time lead to the six-goal result at the final siren.
Lancaster kicked four goals to Shepparton East’s one behind in the third term, winger-cum key forward Riley O’Neill backing up his first round exploits.
O’Neill’s four goals on Saturday gives him eight for the season and came on the back of super mid-field contributions from the consistent Cameron Simpson, ruckman Coby O’Neill and goalkicking centreman Zac Cerrone.
New Lancaster captain Charlie Mclay has offered support to Riley O’Neill, kicking four goals in the opening two rounds and Tanner Cerrone played arguably his best game for the Wombats since returning from Elmore last season.
• Just like last season Stanhope has put an opening round disaster behind it by claiming a 63-point win against Girgarre.
Last year the Lions were thrashed by Nagambie in the season opener, but recovered the following week by 135 points.
Sunday’s win against the Kangaroos came on the back of five goals from Tomas Rennie and a dominant rucking performance by Daniel Flynn
Flynn also kicked three goals, as did opportunist forward Rhys Smith, the Lions kicking 11 goals to three after half-time.
In the next five weeks, the Lions face teams who finished all-around them last season — Dookie United, Avenel, Undera, Tallygaroopna and Violet Town — givng them a chance to secure a top six spot.
Girgarre trailed the Lions by only two points at quarter-time and by just eight points at half-time, before the second half was dominated by Stanhope mid-fielders Luke Donnell, Blake McAuliffe and Nathan O’Reilly.
Flynn had a great battle with opposition big man Byron Dryden, while evergreen Girgarre goal sneak Ryan Butler kicked three of his team’s eight goals.
Josh Marino showed plenty in the early stages of the match, as did Josh Wheeler and Steve Phillips through the mid-field.
Girgarre has two winnable games on the radar in the coming month, facing Rushworth in two weeks and then Merrigum before the halfway mark of the season.
The Kangaroos are one of four winless teams in the competition, the others being Undera, Longwood and Violet Town.
Four teams remain unbeaten this season — Murchison-Toolamba, Lancaster, Avenel and Tallygaroopna.