Just six majors were slotted in the error-ridden first half before the Dragons found their spark to nail 11 goals to one after the long break.

Roos' coach Rob Bennett conceded his midfield was "severely beaten" in the second half as Sandhurst's Lachlan Tardrew, Joel Wharton and Andrew Collins kept driving their side into attack.

The Dragons suffered an early blow as they went into the match without durable on-baller Blair Holmes who injured a calf in the warm-up.

But still the visitors' defenders led by Liam Ireland snuffed out the Roos' tentative forward thrusts as the Hurst romped home to a 15.12 (102) to 3.11 (29) victory.

The first half was clearly the first real competitive outing for both clubs after a long, hot summer.

Marks were spilled, handballs missed their targets and a goal wasn't landed until the 14-minute mark of the opening quarter.

After the Dragons landed that first six-pointer it took a long, inspiring run from Lloyd Needs down the social clubrooms wing ending with the Flat's first goal in reply.

Twenty-eight minutes had elapsed before Needs nailed his major.

Nothing much happened in a dull second term.

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With scores locked on 1.4 apiece at the first change Sandhurst added 3.2 to a solitary major to take a 14-point lead into half-time.

Then the roar came back to the Dragons. They added 6.4 to 1.3 in the third to bolster their lead to 45 points by the last change.

Collins, Tardrew, Alex Wharton, Matt Thornton and Vincent Rodi were all on target at the Station Street end with the Flat's only response coming from Matt Clifford.

With the result a foregone conclusion Adam Parry took his goal tally to two with a running final term Sandhurst goal.

It capped off a chain of handpasses before Parry followed up with his third moments later from an accurate set shot. That made Parry the leading goalkicker on the park.

Apart from showing his disappointment with his side's midfield belting Roo coach Bennett added that his players' delivery into the forward line "hadn't been great."

"The low score wasn't our forwards' fault. Sandhurst did a very good job cutting off our deliveries inside our forward 50."

Dragons' coach Ashley Connick was delighted with the application and the concentration displayed by his backmen with the team's tackle count reaching 84.

"The back six has been outstanding all pre-season. They're a really good mix of guys who can play on almost anyone - Liam Ireland, Josh Hann and Isaac Ruff among them."

The Hurst went with a smaller forward line in the second half.

Sandhurst hosts Strathfieldsaye on Good Friday, while the Roos play Golden Square on Saturday.

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