DOMINANT first and fourth quarters bookended Golden Square's 50-point win over South Bendigo in Saturday's opening round of the BFNL season.

The Bulldogs kicked 11 of their 15 goals across the first and final terms in their 15.13 (103) to 7.11 (53) victory at the Queen Elizabeth Oval.

Although the final margin blew out to 50 points, the contest had still been up for grabs at three quarter-time with the Bulldogs' advantage just 12 points.

"It was a great feeling to see the community back enjoying their footy again today," Golden Square coach Christian Carter said.

"It wasn't just the win that made it a special day, it was seeing the enjoyment our supporters got out of their Saturday at the footy."

The Bulldogs were never headed from the moment Tom Strauch - who took eight marks - kicked the opening goal of the game after two minutes at the city end.

Strauch's was the first of seven unanswered goals the Bulldogs kicked to open the game in what was a blistering start to their 2022 campaign.

The Bulldogs were dominant at the clearances and their backline was superb early as it constantly chopped off South Bendigo attacking forays and rebounded well, with centre half-back Zack Shelton leading the way.

The Bloods didn't help their cause with some poor ball-use in the first term, including kicking out on the full three times.

Six minutes into the second quarter it was a lopsided scoreboard that read Golden Square 7.2 to South Bendigo 0.2 as the Bulldogs led by 42 points.

Gun forward Joel Brett was electric inside 50 and kicked four of the first seven goals for the Bulldogs - including three in the first term - and would later finish the match with a haul of seven.

With the game threatening to slip away, the Bloods dug in and responded with a lift in intensity that paved the way to stem the flow and gain some momentum.

It took the Bloods until the seven-minute mark of the second term to finally kick their first goal when Brock Harvey marked and nailed the 45m set-shot.

It was just the igniter the Bloods needed to surge back into the game as they added three more in a row through Braydan Torpey, ball magnet Cooper Leon and Harvey again to close within 14 points at half-time as the Bulldogs led 7.4 to 4.8.

The Bloods' momentum continued early in the third quarter when Harvey - who was South's most lively forward with three goals - landed a 50m set-shot goal, his side's fifth in a row to trim the margin back to eight points.

The two sides traded two goals apiece over the remainder of the quarter in what became an arm-wrestle.

In a game they ended up winning by 50 points, the Bulldogs at one stage went 38 minutes between Brett kicking their seventh goal early in the second quarter and their eighth midway through the third term.

Across the second and third quarters the Bloods after their sluggish start outscored the Bulldogs 7.9 to 4.9 and just 12 points down at the final change were close enough if good enough to run over the top of the visitors.

However, the final term played out much the same as the first as the Bulldogs re-asserted their authority, starting in the centre square.

Capitalising on the work of ruckman Matt Compston, who was superb all game, the Bulldogs won the centre clearances 6-1 in the final term and 19-7 for the game.

And the Bulldogs were quick to lock the game away in the final term with three goals in the first eight minutes to recruit Jarrod Fitzpatrick, who capitalised on a Bloods' defensive 50 turnover, Brett and young forward Braydon Vaz.

The Bulldogs finished with a burst of 6.3 to 0.1 in the final term onslaught.

Of his seven goals, Brett's sixth was his standout of the day when he cleverly kicked a 40m checkside from the swimming pool flank.

"Joel was exceptional for us today," Carter said.

"Without Jayden (Burke, unavailable) today we thought there could be a bit of a hole in our forward line, but Joel was enormous.

"His goalkicking is obviously one area he excels in, but I thought his pressure was highlighted by having three run-down tackles in the forward 50.

"He's not just a goalkicker - he's the full package."

For the undermanned Bloods - who were missing eight of their best 22 after copping a bad run of injuries through the practice matches - they were left to lament their slow start.

While there was positive signs throughout the middle two quarters, ultimately, they were worn down in the final term by the effort it took to claw back into the game from seven goals down.

"You can't give a side like Golden Square the start we did," Bloods coach Nathan Horbury said.

"We fought so hard to get back into the game through the second and third quarters and just ran out of legs in the last.

"We'll take some positives out of the game from those second and third quarters.

"Full credit to Golden Square; they were really good, particularly in the first quarter with their ball movement. They've got a well balanced side and look like they will give it a good tilt."

Golden Square 15.13 (103)

South Bendigo 7.11 (53)

GOALS: Golden Square: J.Brett 7, A.Jenkyn 2, B.Vaz 2, L.Jacques 1, J.Fitzpatrick 1, R.Hartley 1, T.Strauch 1. South Bendigo: B.Harvey 3, B.Torpey 1, K.Antonowicz 1, C.Leon 1, M.Herlihy 1.

BEST: Golden Square: Joel Brett, Terence Reeves, Matthew Compston, Jack Geary, Tom Strauch, Liam Duguid. South Bendigo: Cameron Taggert, Nathan Horbury, Brock Harvey, Cooper Leon, Oscar White, Liam Byrne.

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