Any hopes of Castlemaine causing an upset were put to bed in the first half as the home side broke the game open with a 5.9 to 1.1 second term.

Maryborough extended its half-time lead from 47 points to 65 points by the final change and then put the foot down in the last term by adding eight goals to one.

The 21.22 (148) to 5.5 (35) victory gave new Maryborough coach Justin Abrams his first win at the club.

"We were really disappointed in ourselves the week before (against Sandhurst),'' Abrams said.

"In saying that, when you bring so many new players together it can take a while to gel. It was good to get some confidence with this win.

"I think the boys can see that we can play a good brand of footy.

"The most pleasing thing is that we didn't just fall in - we actually dominated the game."

Read more: How the rest of the BFNL clubs fared in round two

Maryborough's best player was classy midfielder/forward Matt Bilton.

"He was outstanding,'' Abrams said of Bilton.

"If you look at our best players, three of the best - Bilton, Brady Neill and Jayden Hooper were players that had to leave last week's game early to go to a wedding.

"They all responded really well. I think they were a bit embarrassed that they had to leave to go to a mate's wedding and they put their hand up and played really this week."

Bailey Edwards stood out in the Maryborough midfield, while recruit Fraser Russell kicked three goals and had a hand in many more.

"Fraser missed the year before COVID as well, so it's good for him to come back and play well early in the year,'' Abrams said.

For Castlemaine, defenders Riley Pedretti and John Watson and veteran Liam Wilkinson battled hard.

Young trio Will Moran, Brodie Byrne and Declan Slingo followed up their strong round one efforts with another good performance.

Maryborough travels to Strathfieldsaye next week, while Castlemaine is away to Eaglehawk.

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