With a nine-club structure in place 10 years ago, Square had the bye in the opening round.

The Bulldogs faced some anxious moments in the tense final term as the Dragons battled back from a 27-point deficit at three-quarter time.

In fact Sandhurst, without star forward Ben Sexton, had its chances as midfielder Kieren Prowse sparked the revival..

But the Square steadied much to the relief of coach Brian Walsh. He was back following a year's break from coaching after leading the Dogs to the 1988 and 1989 BFL flags.
Advertiser sports scribes Adam Bourke and Michael Harrington were impressed by a number of Square recruits.

"BFL followers having their first look at Golden Square would have walked away reasonably impressed," Bourke wrote in the Monday, April 16th edition of the Bendigo Advertiser.

"Recruits Ben and Matt Neve, Greg Cox, the Learmonth brothers and Andrew Reid showed they will be more than handy. And the return of Matt Dillon added some bite around the packs."

Harrington wrote Walsh had survived some "anxious moments" in the closing term but still managed to mark his return to the coaching ranks with a victory.

KANGAROO Flat had stamped itself as the team to beat after two, early rounds a decade back with a resounding 53-point win over reigning premiers Castlemaine.

With the 2000 grand final defeat by two kicks still fresh in the minds of the Green and Whites and led by inspirational coach Derrick Filo the Roos caned the Magpies: 20.10 (130) to 11.11 (77).

Filo turned in an outstanding performance and so did full-forward David Lancaster with a nine-goal effort.
After two rounds "Hollywood" Lancaster had rocketed to the top of the BFL goal-kicking table with 16 goals.

Filo led the Bendigo Advertiser-Strath Village Player of the Year award by two votes. He picked up a best afield five votes against the Maine.

The Roos went into the Camp Reserve clash without Brett "Growler" Gloury (ankle) and Grant Leader (concussion).
They had been replaced in the selected side by Aaron Hawkins (now retired, after the 2010 season) and Craig Scoble.

In other round two fixtures, Gisborne scored its first win for 2001 under lights at Maryborough's Princes Park.
The Gardiner Reserve Bulldogs set up their eventual 26-point win with a six-goal-to-one first quarter.

Led by assistant coach Craig Jones and classy midfielder Chris Curcio the Bulldogs bounced out to a match-winning advantage.

And although the Magpies came hard at Gisborne in the final term, booting five majors in a row, the Bulldogs kick-started their 2001 campaign with a sound, away victory.

Maryborough had named a virtual "from' squad of 27 players for the Friday paper. But they fielded a powerful line-up with Cam Skinner, Jeremy Sanders and Travis Ross in the backline, a handy centreline of Ben Kick, 2011 coach Matt Aston and Steve Thomson with Jamie Bond at centre half-forward and Marc Cassidy at the spearhead.

In just their second BFL season Gisborne, under coach Ben Ingleton, also fielded a powerful centreline.

How's this for a midfield trio: Shane Davis, Luke Saunders (also coaching in 2011) and Rodney Sharp.

At Canterbury Park Eaglehawk exploded in the second half notching 14 goals to none to thrash the woeful Kyneton Tigers by 96 points.

At half-time the Tigers were still in the match trailing 2.2 (14) to 2.11 (23), before a nine-goal burst enabled the Hawks to run out huge winners.

THE QEO game was clearly the match-of-the-day. With 1998 Michelsen Medallist Paul Frew in the centre and Daniel Van den Ham at full-forward Golden Square led 29-14 at the first break.

Frew, Dillon and Gary Learmonth teamed well through midfield while Tongala recruit Andrew Reid was a winning half-forward.

The Dragons had the breeze favouring the city end in the second quarter and a resurgence seemed likely.
Rover Chris Giri and former captain-coach Tony Graham (back for another stint in 2011) tried to spark the Dragons.

But Square's defence led by Greg Cox and Joedy Van Eekelen held Hurst to just one second term major.

That left Square ahead by 26 points at half-time.
Andrew Freemantle had been a constant threat from his half-forward flank for the Square and again he led the Dogs' effort.

With close to a five-goal lead and just one quarter to play the match looked done and dusted.
But after Square's opening major of the last term, Sandhurst opened up.

A running goal from just inside the 50m arc from Kieren Prowse lifted the Dragons. Inaccuracy was to be their downfall with three shots sprayed wide of the mark when six-pointers were needed.

Still, the most pleasing sign for Hurst coach Mark Ellis would have been Graham's form. The midfielder had a disappointing 2000 but was a beacon for the Dragons when moved into the centre for the second half.
With Sexton to return and Giri, Jarrod Kelly, Anthony White, Prowse and Eamon Smith to lend midfield support Sandhurst was expected to be hard to contain.

Walsh said at his after-match press conference that the first 15 minutes of the second term had proved to be the match-winning period.

"In the first quarter we didn't capitalize on our chances as well as we should have," he said.

"And Sandhurst wasted some opportunities in the final quarter. They really challenged us, but we had had our chances to put the game beyond doubt a lot earlier in that final quarter," Walsh said.

For the Square Freemantle snared five goals and Van Den Ham two. Matt Sexton nailed four majors for the Dragons.

DAMIEN Slater landed five goals for Eaglehawk and Adam Rout three as the Hawks cruised to their big win.
Nine goals to zip in the third term was the result of great work by big men Alan Morris and Ben Hynes with better finishing from Slater, Dean Young and Brad Rogerson in the front half.

In only his second senior game Eaglehawk youngster Zac Harvey looked a real prospect. The match report stated that "Harvey is an exciting youngster who showed glimpses of his enormous talent."

Darren Chambers, Andrew McArdle and Xavier Keighran battled hard for the Tigers although Kyneton struggled to get the ball past two Blue centre half-back Clayton Ison for the entire afternoon.

Eaglehawk coach Barry Hayes was pleased with his side's second half effort and was looking forward to the Round 3 clash against unbeaten Kangaroo Flat.

STEVEN "Action Attraction" Reaper booted five of Gisborne's 13 goals at Maryborough.
Bourke wrote in his Monday wrap that Reaper carried a huge responsibility for the 2001 season.
"At this early stage it looks as though he'll need to kick at least five goals a game if the Dogs are going to beat the higher-rated clubs," he noted.

Richard's tips for Round 2: Kangaroo Flat, Eaglehawk, Strathfieldsaye, Gisborne, Golden Square.

By Richard Jones