Work in progress: Young Eagles eager to develop together

But more importantly for the Eagles boss is that his young team is doing exactly that, making progress.

The Eagles will enter their round three clash against Mitiamo at 1-1, following up a 22-goal opening round win over a similarly young and rebuilding Cailivil United with a 19-goal loss to Bridgewater last week.

The game at Mitiamo will be a rematch of last season's grand final, won by the Eagles, albeit there will be plenty of players missing from that match on Saturday, the bulk of them from Maiden Gully YCW.

While he knew this season would be a tough one, having lost all but two of last year's A-grade regulars, Boldiston can see both plenty of positives and problems which can be readily fixed from the first two weeks of the season.

"We are young and inexperienced so it is going to take us a bit of time," he said.

"We had a good win in week one against another inexperienced side in Calivil; they have obviously lost quite a few players from last year too.

"We did what needed to against them and then came up a much stronger opposition in Bridgewater.

"Just their experience and physicality was too much for my girls, but they never gave up, which was pleasing.

"It was not necessarily that Bridgey were forcing us into really bad turnovers, it was just us missing targets on occasions.

"If we can tidy things up, we can be right in games like that.

"We were leading in the third and fourth quarters, but just fell away at the end of those quarters.

"If you can hold your nerve and keep focus, you can win those quarters."

Among the positives has been the early season form of wing attack Olivia Hall, who has seamlessly handled the jump from C-grade league best and fairest last season to A-grader this year.

"She has stepped up from pre-season to round one and taken another step forward in round two," Boldiston said.

"I thought she was really good against Bridgey, constantly presenting and re-offering, and got plenty ball, while busting her gut in defence.

"And our young goaler, Emily (Barbour), playing against Carly Van Den Heuvel. She is only 19 and this is her first time playing in an A-grade standard competition on a regular basis, so it's a big learning curve for her.

"But I thought she stood up well and wasn't overawed by the occasion and did quite well.

"And defensively, just all over the court, the girls worked hard the entire game.

"We still won plenty of ball, so from here it's a matter of looking after that ball and transitioning it down the court."

The centre duties for the Eagles were shared by Paige Barry (first half) and 18-year-old Skye Griffiths (second half).

While it will be a tough ask against Mitiamo, which started the season with a 38-goal win over Marong before a bye in round two, the Superoos are expected to be without a bunch of players from across their senior grades, testing their depth.

Boldiston's biggest wish on Saturday will be for further improvement from his young players.

"As I always say to my girls, we are young and we are going to continue to improve throughout the season," he said.

"A lot of these teams have experienced players, who have played together for a while, so they are already up where they can get to.

"We'll get better the more time we spend together on court."

In other games on the weekend, top-of-the-ladder Pyramid Hill will be aiming to keep its unbeaten record intact against Marong, which rebounded from a loss to Mitiamo to defeat Newbridge by two goals.

The Bulldogs conceded only 11 goals for the match in a 39-goal win over Calivil United last week.

Back on the winner's list for the first time since 2019, Bears Lagoon-Serpentine will attempt to quickly add a second win when it hosts Newbridge.

Bridgewater, which has split its first two games against Newbridge (loss) and Maiden Gully YCW, will play Inglewood.

Calivil United has the bye.

Newbridge 35 lost to Marong 37

Inglewood 21 lost to Bears Lagoon-Serpentine 67

Pyramid Hill 50 d Calivil United 11

Maiden Gully YCW 34 lost to Bridgewater 53

Mitiamo bye