In front of a big Good Friday crowd at Camp Reserve, Castlemaine absorbed an early challenge from Maryborough before kicking away to win 19.17 (131) to 9.8 (62).

The momentum of the game shifted in time-on of the second quarter after an injury to athletic Maryborough big man Seb Collins.

Maryborough was leading by 18 points at the time before the game halted for several minutes after Collins - in his first game back from an ACL - suffered a broken arm in a blow for the visitors.

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Following the resumption of play Castlemaine kicked the last three goals of the second quarter through new coach Michael Hartley and skipper Bailey Henderson (two) to erase the 18-point deficit and go into half-time with a two-point advantage.

It had been an entertaining first half and Maryborough certainly equipped itself well, but it was all one-way traffic in the second half as the game opened up and Castlemaine assumed complete control.

After kicking the last three goals of the second term Castlemaine then booted the first five of the third quarter with Henderson leading the charge.

Star midfielder Henderson - who is with the Magpies full-time this year following VFL stints with Richmond and Werribee - kicked the first two goals of the third term and would finish the match with five as he proved a class above in a best-on-ground performance to open the season.

Hartley also bagged five goals - four coming in the first half - as he provided a strong target inside 50, while fellow recruit Zac Greeves was also lively with four goals.

Ignited by the electric Bailey Edwards in the middle, Maryborough strung together a solid first 50 minutes of the game and brought plenty of intensity to the contest, but couldn't sustain it as a mounting injury count took its toll and Castlemaine ran out convincing winners in its biggest round one victory since 2016.

Castlemaine kicked 12 goals to two after half-time and strung together some crisp passages of ball movement that will have the Magpies' faithful excited for what should be a vastly improved season in 2024.

As well as Henderson, Hartley and Greeves combining for 14 goals, Castlemaine also got two each from the McConachy brothers, Callum and Ben.

"Maryborough brought a lot of fight to the contest and to be honest, we were probably a bit taken aback by that," Castlemaine coach Hartley said.

"We spoke at half-time about what we needed to improve on and I gave the boys a bit of a rev up and I thought we came out in the second half and got it done really well.

"It took a little bit longer than we wanted to get the game the way we wanted it, but some of our ball movement in the second half was really good... if our forwards had have been able to finish better we could have put on a few more goals.

"But overall it was a really pleasing way to start the season."

The Magpies' radar in front of goal was wayward in the final quarter.

Despite the bulk of the play in the last quarter being in the Castlemaine front half, the home side kicked 6.9, while restricting Maryborough to just one behind.

Maryborough kicked three of the first four goals of the game, one of which was a penetrating kick from outside 50 from Collins that rolled through, while ruckman Ty Stewart also showed plenty of skill in nailing a 35m set-shot from the boundary.

There were some warning bells sounding for Castlemaine during the second quarter when Maryborough held the upper hand with its cleaner ball-use and pressure helping the visitors to open an 18-point lead, 7.4 to 4.4, before the Collins' injury and subsequent stoppage of the game for several minutes halted the momentum for the visitors as the home side would kick the next eight goals of the game.

As well as the broken arm to Collins Maryborough also suffered injuries to Kirk Looby (rib) and Fraser Russell (groin).

"The first 40 to 50 minutes of the game were fantastic when we were at full strength," Maryborough co-coach Coby Perry said.

"Seb Collins and Fraser Russell were both in the game early for us and good avenues in the forward line and hit the scoreboard, but as soon as those guys went down it just threw us out structurally unfortunately and we were missing those key avenues to goal, which was tough.

"Castlemaine moved the ball really well in the second half and it was hard to keep up with them with their fresher legs.

"But for us, we're super positive... we showed that when we had a full team for those first 50 or so minutes we were well in control. It felt good and we moved the ball well through that period and we hit the scoreboard and now we'll get ready for Kangaroo Flat."

The remainder of the BFNL's round one games will be played on Saturday, April 13 - Strathfieldsaye v South Bendigo, Eaglehawk v Golden Square, Kangaroo Flat v Sandhurst.

Gisborne bye.