The Bulldogs, who were without their coach Tarryn Rymer after she ruptured her Achilles during the afternoon's A-reserve clash, fought their way back from a five-goal deficit in the final quarter to snatch a remarkable 43-43 draw.

The result left both teams with undefeated records after three rounds, albeit with two wins and a draw alongside their names.

The draw brought a mix of some disappointment, excitement and satisfaction for both the Bulldogs and Roos, who have already stamped themselves as the logical threats this season to Sandhurst's bid for a history-making fourth-straight premiership.

Kangaroo Flat coach Jayden Cowling paid full credit to the Bulldogs for being able to overcome the early setback of being without their coach.

He believed a draw, as opposed to a loss, would only benefit the Roos ahead of another tough game next week against Sandhurst.

"It was an awesome game, it was great to have a good tough hit-out," he said.

"We're not unhappy with a draw, it's not a loss and Gisborne is a benchmark team.

"It was great to see just where we are at and where we need to go and improve moving forward.

"Throughout the game we had some good leads of five or six, which we really should have kept, but with a team like Gisborne, you can't afford to take the foot of the pedal, they will punish you."

Cowling revealed his team had spoken during the week about it being eight years since Kangaroo Flat has scored a win at Gisborne, but hoped a draw and walking away with two points had somewhat 'broken the curse'.

While disappointed not to emerge with the full four points, Gisborne star Maddy Stewart said the team was rapt with the performance.

"It started on the wrong foot losing our coach in the game before and we were still a little bit undermanned, but take nothing away from Flat, they are a great team, so it was really nice to take it up to them," she said.

"We would have loved to have come away with a win, but it was great to get a really good, hard-fought game on the board.

"(Kangaroo Flat) is really worthy of being talked up, they are an awesome team. They are very well-coached and have some amazing players and with their new players, they are going to be very hard to beat.

"They were difficult to take on, so they fully deserve the credit they've been getting."

The Bulldogs were without their gun goal shooter Clare Vearing, who had missed the club's opening two games through injury, but was due to line-up for her VNL team Peninsula Waves on Saturday night.

Stewart, who injured her knee in last week's win against Golden Square, was a line-ball decision to line up against the Roos and was grateful to emerge unscathed.

"It was only in the last hour I decided to play, but it's all okay, we made it through," she said."

The Bulldogs will look to add to their impressive start to the season next week against South Bendigo, which defeated Kyneton 33-27 on Saturday night.

At Strathfieldsaye, Steph Freemantle enjoyed her first win as A-grade coach as the Storm gradually wore down Maryborough to win by nine goals.

The Storm trailed by four goals at quarter time, but led by one at half time and three at the final change of end, before saving their best for the end with a 17-11 final quarter to win 60-51.

After honest efforts in losses to Sandhurst and Gisborne in their opening rounds, Freemantle said she was rapt to have the Storm's first win on the board.

"It feels good, it was sort of 'a need to' win for us after our performances against Gisborne and Sandhurst, we really needed to see where we are at among that next tier of teams," she said.

"We talked a lot about maintaining our composure, so it was good for us to see that we could come back from being down and settle and keep playing our own game, instead of being rattled.

Wing defence Makayle Dole was the Storm's best, with their goaling combination of Eliza Hynes and Ava Hamilton combining effectively throughout the contest.

For Maryborough, livewire centre Ella Tranter was tenacious in the midcourt and Jordan Macilwain was strong at goal attack.

Reigning premier Sandhurst continued its undefeated start to the season with a 76-24 victory over Golden Square at the QEO.

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