It's the challenge confronting Mt Pleasant and it's welcomed by new coach Darren Walsh.

The Blues lost by 12 goals to Lockington-Bamawm United last week, but Walsh wasn't disappointed with the performance.

"I thought for 60 percent of the game we were good,'' Walsh said.

"We went into half-time four goals down and I thought we were unlucky not be closer.

"We let ourselves down in the third quarter. They ran harder than us and our skill level was poor.

"The final scoreline was disappointing, but our first half was good and that gave us something to build on.

"Effort is the number one thing in football and as long as we bring that effort, and tidy up our skills, then we'll give a good account of ourselves."

Walsh said the young Blues were learning and improving with every week they spent together.

"We probably played a few too many lighter bodies last week whereas this week we'll bring in a few bigger bodies,'' Walsh said.

"We're still one or two weeks away from having our best side. Building a new list doesn't happen overnight, it's a two or three year plan to get us back up there."

North Bendigo is also chasing its first win of the season after it went down to reigning premier Leithcville-Gunbower in round one.

The Bulldogs were far from disgraced and they look to have a detisnct edge over the Blues in class and experience.

Heathcote plays its first game of 2018 when it hosts premiership fancy Colbinabbin at Barrack Reserve.

Saints' coach Luke Bell is confident his side can improve on last year's 4-12 record.

"We are so much more advanced this year compared to this time last year,'' Bell said.

"We've had a much better pre-season and we have better numbers around the club.

"We're not at full strength for round one, but overall I'm pretty happy with where we're at."

Key players Daniel Anderson and Dan Russell are still a couple of weeks away from playing because of work commitments.

The Saints have made life hard for Colbo at Barrack Reserve in the past and Bell is hoping that trend continues on Saturday.

"Defensivley last year Colbo were really good and now they've added Elliot Bowen as that deep forward to help (Ryan) Hon and (Nick) Knight, so they look very strong,'' Bell said.

"We need to make sure we need to keep that pressure up and slow down their delivery to those forwards.

" At our ground there's a bit less space to move the footy and last year we managed to bottle things up a bit for them.

"When we play at Colbo there's more room around the wings and they tend to cut us up on the outside."

Two first round winners - Lockington-Bamawm United and Huntly - clash at Lockington.

The Cats looked slick in their big win over Mounts, while the Hawks battled for two quarters but eventually outclassed White Hills by nine goals.

Huntly regains four of its stars for round two - midfield trio Ryan Semmel, Doug Thomas and Jack Daley and key position player Chris Gleeson.

In the remaining HDFNL round two game, Leitchville-Gunbower should post a percentage-boosting win over Elmore.

In an ominous sign for HDFNL rivals, the Bombers still have key players on the sidelines.

The Bloods are rebuilding under coach Danny Brewster and face a huge task on home soil.