A picturesque late afternoon in Balmoral saw Kalkee held scoreless by a rampaging Southern Roos in the final term. But the final margin was not a fair reflection of how even the contest was for most of the day. 

Harrow-Balmoral came out invigorated after their 2018 premiership banner was unfurled before the game and gained an early ascendancy. 

Returning Roo Eric Guthrie had the ball on a string and kicked the first goal of the contest. Guthrie could've easily had three in the opening ten minutes if not for some early season rust, as he missed two gettable set shots in the early stages.

​WATCH HARROW-BALMORAL SING THE SONG

"It takes a bit to get back into it let me tell you," Guthrie said after the match. "I've got to work on my kicking that is for sure."

With a slight breeze in their favour, the Southern Roos jumped out to a 16-3 quarter time lead. But Kalkee wrestled back some momentum late in the quarter, with Hamish Exell and Gunn brothers Jasper and Harvey winning plenty of football through the midfield.

Kalkee's Cooper Price provided a stunning highlight half way through the second term when he kicked a check-side goal from the boundary line.

The margin was just two goals at the main break, but the Southern Roos came out firing in the third after a stern halftime speech from coach Nick Pekin. They kicked the first three goals of the quarter and leaped out to a 34 point lead, 63-29.

"I thought our first half was actually very disappointing," Pekin said after the match.

"We weren't sticking to our fundamentals.

"Being round one I gave the guys a fair rev-up.... But I think after half time we came out and finished strong."

Kalkee cut the deficit to 22 at three-quarter time, but Harrow-Balmoral were ruthless in the last term as they stormed away to an 87 point win.

Kalkee coach Stuart Farr said it was a lack of mental application that led to the blow-out loss.

"I don't think running out the game was the problem, it was mental lapses," Farr said.

"We put a good plan in place and we didn't execute in that last quarter like we did in the first three."

Natimuk United similarly powered away from Swifts in the last term of their match to take an impressive 32 point victory away from home.

The Rams trailed by five points heading into the last but stormed home with eight final quarter goals to win the match.

"It was a great win by the boys," Rams coach Sam Anson said. "Stawell are a great side, to get one on their turf away from home was really important."

In other results, Noradjuha-Quantong defeated Laharum, Rupanyup prevailed against a much-improved Taylors Lake, and Edenhope-Apsley were too strong for Pimpinio. The Saints new recruit Carl Slape booted 11 goals in the win.