Tara Murray
It was a different looking Gisborne side from the side that won last year’s Bendigo Football League premiership in round one on Saturday.
With seven players departing in the off season and another three out injured, more than half the premiership team was missing against Strathfieldsaye.
The Bulldogs started the better of the two sides, before the Storm hit the lead in the second quarter.
The Storm got the lead up to five goals early in the last quarter, before the Bulldogs kicked some late goals to reduce the margin.
The Storm held on to win, 11.13 (79)-9.12 (67).
New Bulldogs coach Brad Fox said it was exciting to see a number of young guys get their opportunity.
“We were very young and inexperienced players,” he said. “The average age of the side is 21, which is young for any team anywhere.
“The guys are keen and keen to have more impact. We will improve and improve quickly.”
Fox said the difference in the match was a couple of lapses in both the second and third quarters that proved to be the difference.
He said they also struggled to find clean ball inside 50 with a lot of goals from free play.
One thing that impressed Fox was the way that they finished the game.
“It got to five goals in the last quarter,” he said.
“The first game of the season is always the hardest. After the 20 minute mark we were able to put the pressure on and you could tell by the reaction of Strathfieldsaye they weren’t taking it easy.
“We were able to run out the game and take risks.”
Zac Denhay and Harry Luxmoore kicked three goals each for the Bulldogs. Luxmoore made his senior debut in the match, having won last season’s under-18 league goal kicking award.
Fox said Jack Reaper, Liam Spear, Luke Ellings and continued on from last year.
Despite the number of changes in the off season, Fox said they still had high expectations for this season.
Josh Kemp, Jaidyn Owen, Nicholas Doolan, Matt Panuccio, Ethan Minns, Scott Walsh and Ethan Foreman have all departed in the off season.
Premiership winning skipper Pat McKenna was one of those on the side lines injured.
Fox, who replaces Rob Waters, said it had been like coming home in a coaching sense.
It was a tough start for Kyneton, which had a big loss to Golden Square, 12.17 (89)-3.7 (25).
Golden Square did most of the damage in the first quarter, leading by 41 points at the first break.
