Coming home with a strong breeze saw Cervantes cruise to what was a relatively easy victory by a margin of 85 points and sending some ominous signs to the rest of the competition.

Cervantes goals came from the boots of Joel O’Halloran with nine, two each to Chris Bradshaw and Rhett Milliken, singles to McDonald, Howes, M. Thomson and Lord.

Goal kickers for Dandaragan were Justin Pitt with three, singles to Lindsay Plankhurst and Ryan Lilly.

Plenty of good players for the Tigersharks, ruckman Craig McLaren, Trent McKenna, Rowan McDonald and veteran Chris Bradshaw all showing some great form early in the season.

Better players fro the Saints were Pitt and Donnelly.

It is very early in the season to call but Cervantes look to have put together a formidable outfit of strong, fast and skilful players that extends all the way through the squad, giving them tremendous depth, something that opposition teams will struggle to cover.

Dandaragan played some good football but found it hard to cover all bases against such a talented side as Cervantes and will benefit from having a couple of players to come back into the side.

Rovers win first derby

Sunday saw the first Moora Derby between Warriors and Rovers, a much anticipated clash by both clubs for many reasons.

With plenty of talk around the town since the end of last season about the future of football in Moora and the results of the early games this season, there was plenty of interest in how each club was shaping up to get through the 2009 season.

In great conditions for football and with the Moora Oval in fantastic condition, the game got underway and Warriors struck the first blow with a goal from the centre bounce setting the scene for what was a free flowing and relatively high scoring game of football.

Rovers quickly steadied and had several goals in reply to dampen Warriors’ early enthusiasm, but unlike Warriors’ teams of recent seasons, they made the ball the object, got on with the game and were able to claw back to keep in touch with Rovers.

Taking a 26 point lead into the second quarter, Rovers started strongly and with Clint McPherson providing a strong target up forward it looked as though Rovers were going to run away with the game, but a concerted effort by the blue and gold had them match Rovers’ score for the quarter and set things up for a good second half.

With both sides having taken players from the reserves game to make up some numbers, fitness and fatigue started to have an effect in the warm conditions, the pace of the game slowing noticeably, Rovers outscoring Warriors three goals to one in the third quarter to give them a comfortable 38 point buffer heading into the final term.

To Warriors credit, and what is a positive sign for the club, they stuck to the task and produced some good passages of play that showed supporters and indeed the players themselves what they are capable of.

Rovers continued to work the ball well into their forward line, and with McPherson adding to his goal tally were able to extend their three quarter time lead to a 44 point victory.

McPherson went on to kick 13 for the match, Jye Dodd kicked three, Craig White got two and singles to Jake Manning, Jason Todd, Andrew Culleton and Trev Cummin.

Justin Lawrence provided a strong target up forward for Warriors finishing with six, Cameron Ashby got three, Peter Prior two and singles to Smith, Johns, McGregor and Codie Begg.

Plenty of good players for both sides, Rovers listing Dally recruit Craig White, Matt Cole, Jake Manning and Jim Hamilton among their best while for Warriors good efforts came from Ian Smith, Kev Wyatt, Ray Lawrence and Devyn Jackamarra.

This was as good a Moora Derby as we have seen for a while, played in good spirit by two reasonably even teams that, given early season indications, were both struggling for numbers.

Bulldogs’ bite too good for Pirates

The Lancelin-Ledge Point Pirates travelled up the coast on Anzac Day to take on coastal rivals Jurien Bay in great conditions for football, with the breeze a major factor as the afternoon wore on.

In a good even game of football, both sides were able to control proceedings for parts of the game not allowing each other to blow the game open.

The Pirates jumped out of the blocks to take a 10 point lead into the first change, Jurien only able to get two behinds on the board in what was quite an even term of football.

Jurien got into gear in the second quarter to turn things around, holding Lancelin to three behinds and racking up six goals five behinds to give the Bulldogs a handy 28 point buffer heading into the long break this term proving to be the difference between the sides.

It was a dinkum battle in the third quarter as Lancelin matched Jurien, and were able to claw back a couple of points from the Bulldogs lead, but were unable to carry that momentum through to the final term where Jurien were able to kick away to a 34 point win.

Brendon Bellotti kicked five of Jurien’s goals, John Murray and Kevin Fenton getting two each with singles to Judge Burgess and Leon Murdoch.

The Pirates goalkickers all got one each, B. Stokke, L. Innes, Litterick, Buchanan, Fuss and McDonald sharing the majors around.

Best players for the victors were Matt Ashworth, Kye Blakeney, Mark Walker and Kev Fenton, good efforts for the Pirates coming from Glen Scadden, Ben Litterick, Gary McDonald and David Jones.

Jurien take their win tally to two and would be reasonable pleased with their start to the season, the big test coming, as it has for the last few seasons, when they take on Dandaragan and Cervantes.

Lancelin are yet to open their account in the CMCFL, but are showing the signs that they will be a competitive force in the competition as the season progresses.

CMCFL games this week

Some good contests looming this week in the CMCFL, with Cervantes playing Rovers in Moora, Dandaragan at home to Jurien and Warriors heading down to Lancelin, all games being played on Sunday.

Game of the round should the game in Dandaragan where Jurien head to take on the Saints.

Dandaragan will be disappointed in their effort against Cervantes last week and will be looking to make amends at Dandy where they enjoy quite a home ground advantage.

Jurien will be confident on the back of their two wins so far, but will come up against a determined opponent in Dandaragan, the Saints having the game plan and method to inflict the first loss on the Bulldogs for season 09.

Warriors head down to Lancelin and will be buoyed by their performance last week and should give a good account of themselves at the Pirates home ground.

It will be a good contest but Lancelin look to have enough talent to get over the Moora side.

For the second time in three weeks, Cervantes head to Moora to take on Rovers.

Rovers are still looking to re-establish the form that had them mixing with the top teams in recent years, but it is hard to see them having any answer to the slick Cervantes outfit, the Tigersharks already running at top speed this season.