Riddled by injuries for the opening six rounds of the season, the Blues entered Saturday's game with North Bendigo in a precarious position at 2-3.

The club debut of co-coach Adam Baird and return from injury of key forward Rhys Deacon made an instant impact for the Blues as they led the club to a crucial 12.16 (88) to 8.11 (59) win over the reigning premier Bulldogs.

Deacon kicked six goals and was best on ground, while Baird, the 2019 Michelsen Medal winner in the BFNL, wasn't far behind him.

"It helps having four or five senior quality players back in the side,'' Walsh said.

"Adam Baird and Rhys Deacon were enormous for us. They make everyone else better.

"Rhys takes the pressure off Ben (Weightman) and Adam just does what Adam does.

"Adam thought he didn't kick the ball, which he probably didn't, but he probably had the ball 40 times.

"When you have players come into the side that haven't played for a while you never know if it's going to click straight away.

"It just shows how much class matters."

North led Mounts early in the second quarter, but a couple of errors by the Bulldogs were capitalised on by the home side.

Four-straight goals gave Mounts a 16-point lead at the main break.

In a tight third term it was the home side who made the most of its chances.

North missed a couple of easy shots and Mounts extended their lead to 22 points at the final change.

"Our spread was good and it was probably the first time this year we played four quarters of tough, hard footy,'' Walsh said.

"If you don't do that against North, they'll beat you. To be fair, North has their injury problems as well.

"Our backline was undersized and Brayden Dorrington did his hamstring, so I thought our backline stood up well.

"Sam Greene was brilliant. He's a very laconic player, but he does the basics well."

Jordan Ford led the way for North Bendigo across half-back, while the Dogs were elated with the job Bailey Wingrave did on Mounts' star Ben Weightman (two goals).

North's cause wasn't helped by hamstring injuries to Koe Ngawati and Tim Devereaux.

"I thought it was a really good game of footy,'' North coach Matt Dillon said.

"We had chances to be in front at half-time and we probably went to sleep a bit in the third quarter.

"We made too many errors, but I thought our effort and pressure was pretty good."

Colbinabbin coach Julian Bull admitted his side was still lacking polish with ball in hand despite the Hoppers defeating Heathcote by 68 points.

The Hoppers won 16.13 (109) to 6.5 (41) with Steve Tuohey kicking six goals in a best on ground performance.

"Our defensive side was probably as good as we've played all year, but we struggled with our execution with the ball again,'' Bull said.

"In the third quarter we probably should have put them away. It should have finished 20 goals to three instead of 16 goals to six.

"It's probably nit picking a bit, but we probably played a lot better than the final score looked."

Sluggish starts the previous two matches against White Hills and North Bendigo had cost the Hoppers dearly.

On Saturday they produced their best first quarter of the season to put the Saints on the back foot.

"It's as good as we've started, particularly after starting badly the past two weeks and it rolled on from there,'' Bull said.

"To Heathcote's credit they had a lot of good players out, but they still had a good bit of fight in them and they did a pretty good job."

Bull was full of praise for Tuohey, who has been the Hoppers most consistent forward this season.

"He's gone to another level and things have clicked for him,'' Bull said.

"He's kicked 6.4, but it's everything else he does as well.

"He hits the ball hard and if he kicked 6.4 he's probably taken 15 marks.

"Jed Brain probably kicked 1.7 and three or four or those misses were set shots."

The depleted Saints were best served by Tom Pain, Mitch McLean, Dillon Hardy and Matthew Mikic, who kicked three of their six goals.

Lockington-Bamawm United outclassed the rebuilding Leitchville-Gunbower at Lockington on Saturday.

The Cats had 38 scoring shots to six in an impressive 22.16 (148) to 3.3 (21) win.

"It was pleasing in the way we played our footy,'' LBU coach Brodie Collins said.

"We won a lot of our own ball whereas against Huntly (the week before) they beat us to the ball.

"I was much happier with the attitude of the boys compared to Huntly.

"I think the boys were after some redemption. Having a few players back in helped as well.

"I thought Lachy Atherton and Nathan Bacon, even though they didn't have stellar games throughout, I thought they and Joss Howlett set the tone early in the middle and the rest followed suit.

"It was a good day."

Wingman Joe Wolfe was outstanding for the Cats, collecting more than 30 possessions.

Clever forward James McPhee benefited from the midfield dominance, kicking seven goals.

"James kicked straight for a change,'' Collins said.

"I think he'd kicked 11.11 prior to last week. We worked on his action through the week and it paid dividends.

"Our forwards worked a lot better this week."

Ayden Walton, Bailey Taylor, Tom Brereton and Josh Hawken battled hard against the odds for the Bombers.

LBU's big win sets up a mouth-watering clash with fellow undefeated side White Hills next Saturday.

The Demons shook off an early challenge from Elmore to win by 51 points on Saturday.

The 17.13 (115) to 10.4 (64) scoreline was much tighter than the Demons' 112-point win in the season-opener.

Elmore only kicked four goals for the game in the season-opener. The Bloods matched that total by quarter-time on Saturday.

A four-goal to one second quarter by the Demons gave the visitors a handy 29-point lead at the main break.

The Demons sealed the points with a five-goal to one third term.

"Elmore came out pretty hot, which we knew they would,'' White Hills' coach Sam Kerridge said.

"At times early on we didn't play the way we wanted to play and Elmore capitalised.

"After a couple of adjustments we got back into the way we like to play.

"Elmore kept the pressure up most of the game, but I thought we performed pretty well. It was good to get the result."

Jed Lamb added six goals to his name to take his season tally to 48.

After impressing in the midfield in the first six rounds of the season, Lachlan Collihole played at centre half-forward for the Demons on Saturday and kicked four goals.

Livewire midfielder/half-forward Jake Allport played his best game of the year.

Elmore continues to improve and you get the feeling at some stage this year the Bloods will upset at least one of the top five sides.

Young gun Mitch Cricelli continued his good form in attack and in the ruck to be the Bloods' best.

For the sixth game in a row classy forward James Harney kicked multiple goals, while Nick Kellow and Dylan Oaff (three goals) also played well for the home side.

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