THERE will be no waiting until the final round like last year for Elmore to win its first game in the Heathcote District league - the Bloods are on the board two matches in.

A goal in the dying stages to Darcy Laffy secured the Bloods a thrilling three-point win over Huntly, 14.13 (97) to 14.10 (94), on Saturday in a rare HDFNL game over recent seasons decided by less than a kick.

Having been 18 points in front at three quarter-time, the Bloods squandered the lead during the final term before Laffy earned a holding the ball free-kick and converted the set-shot for the match-winning goal in the final minute.

"It was a bit stressful at the end... Huntly was in front with about 30 seconds to go, but we managed to get over the line, which was great for the boys and the club," Elmore coach Danny Brewster said.

Laffy kicked his match-winning goal from about 20m out on a slight angle shortly after Hawks' veteran Stacy Fiske, who was one of his side's best, was concussed in a contest.

Elmore's thrilling victory - its first over Huntly since 2015 - came after an encouraging first-up performance against Colbinabbin for last season's wooden-spooners.

"It's massive for us to get an early win. We built some belief during the pre-season and there were some good signs last week with where we're coming from," Brewster said.

"We knew if we could bring that same effort and intensity this week then we'd be a chance.

"I felt we controlled the game for probably 80 per cent, but let Huntly back in with some basic skill errors and silly mistakes in that last quarter.

"But to our boys credit, they battled hard all day and did a tremendous amount of work, especially early."

Had the Bloods lost the match they would have been left to rue their third quarter when they kicked 2.9.

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Midfielder Matt Gilmour earned the best player honours for the Bloods.

"It was a typical Matt Gilmour game.... he goes hard at it and does all the grunt work and was able to feed it out to a few of our better ball users," said Brewster, who kicked two goals.

"The big difference from last week was we had a lot more spread and runners on the outside today."

Bailey Boyack generated plenty of drive from half-back for the Bloods, while midfield recruit Rhys Healey was also among the best.

New forward Romain Grenville kicked four goals, but tweaked a groin during the second quarter and later sat out most of the last term.

Coming off a five-goal haul against North Bendigo the previous week, Phil Ryan slotted four for Huntly, while Ben Daley kicked three, with the pair named the Hawks' two best players.

North Bendigo handed Leitchville-Gunbower its biggest loss at home for seven years in a one-sided grand final rematch.

The latest installment in what's the league's No.1 modern day rivalry was anything but a classic as the Bulldogs dominated, winning 17.12 (114) to 6.8 (44) at Leitchville.

It was the Bombers' heaviest loss at home since a 101-point defeat to LBU in round five of 2012 when they were still finding their way in the HDFNL and yet to become the power side that has met North Bendigo in the past four grand finals and won the past two flags.

With both teams coming off round one victories, the Bulldogs held a 24-point advantage at half-time, before slamming on 12 goals to four after the break to blow the Bombers away.

"We were a bit slow to get going early... Leitchy applied some good pressure and we were a bit wasteful and undisciplined at times," North Bendigo coach Matt Dillon said.

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"They got back within a couple of goals during the third quarter, but the way we were able to respond and push away to the margin it ended was a pleasing result."

The Bulldogs - who have a monster percentage of 290.4 after two rounds - were off-target in the first half, kicking 5.9, but straightened up after the break, adding a more clinical 12.3.

Playing against his former side, utility Joel Helman was North Bendigo's best player.

"Joel started up forward and rotated through the middle as well," Dillon said.

"He was really good when he went into the middle... he used the ball well and won some clearances, and looked dangerous when he played forward. He's working into the season nicely."

Zach Alford, who also played a midfield/forward role, and Aarryn Craig, who is closing in on 200 senior games, were also among North Bendigo's better players.

Craig, Brady Herdman, Ben Knight and Darcy Richards kicked three goals apiece for the Bulldogs, who had captain Jarrod Findlay spend an extended period of time on the bench due to a hip knock, while Will Brohm hurt an ankle.

Already missing the dangerous Daniel Coates (tight hamstring) as a late withdrawal, the Bombers were a rotation down from early in the game with Joel Donehue forced from the ground.

"Joel did the warm-up, but was feeling crook, so we were basically one player down from the start," Bombers coach Danny Teskera said.

"It was a really hot day and we just ran out of legs. North Bendigo was really good by foot and a bit cleaner throughout the day and outclassed us, particularly through the back half of the game."

The best for the Bombers were led by Brady Hore, who played at centre half-forward, and experienced defender Hoby Bussey, who had the big job on Herdman.

Mount Pleasant reaped the benefit of a big pre-season with its dominant last quarter as it kicked away to a 50-point win over White Hills on Good Friday.

The Blues held a 13-point advantage at three quarter-time, but slammed on 6.3 to 0.2 in the final term to run away with an 18.14 (122) to 11.6 (72) victory led by an eight-goal bag to star forward Ben Weightman, who was on fire from the outset.

"We played four quarters of football, which we haven't done for a long time, so it was really pleasing the way we got the buy-in from the players," Mount Pleasant coach Darren Walsh said.

While it was a strong finish to the game for the Blues, it was the second in a row the Demons have faded badly in the final term.

Mount Pleasant outscoring White Hills 39-2 in the final quarter came after Lockington-Bamawm United's 65-15 last term against the Demons in the season-opener.

In the other Good Friday match Lockington-Bamawm United showed again that it's going to be one of the competition's pace-setters with its 17.11 (113) to 11.11 (77) win over Colbinabbin.

The 36-point margin was the same as what the Cats led by at quarter-time after making a flying start.

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