Koroit takes the chocolates in the first Hampden league Good Friday netball match against South Warrnambool

The Roosters flew out of the blocks early to take a six-goal lead into the first break.

In the second term, Koroit started to fight its way back into the contest and by half-time, it had trimmed the margin to a single goal.

After the long break, the game opened up and scoring became more common, with Koroit scoring 33 goals to South Warrnambool’s 21 in the final two quarters to run away with a 58-47 victory.

It meant the Carly Pulling and Jess O’Connor-coached side kick-started its premiership defence on a positive note.

Pulling, a first-year co-coach, said her side had to deal with a few first game hiccups during and prior to the game. 

“We had a bit of a shaky start,” she told The Standard after the opening round victory.

“We had a lot of new girls on the court and we had a few unavailable today, that we didn't know about until last night, so it was a bit of a new lineup again.

“But I was really happy with the outcome and our finish.”

The Saints playing coach said her side’s performance fluctuated for a majority of the match and that it also highlighted where the Saints had room for improvement.

“I think in patches we did pretty well, but in others it got pretty ugly,” she said.

“But, I think that will come and go as the season progresses on and hopefully we can manage four good quarters at the end of the season.”

Old Collegians recruit Vanessa McLaren was named best on court, drawing praise from Pulling for her “outstanding” performance.

“She had a stellar game,” she said. 

“She started in centre in the first half after she had also played four quarters in the under 17s game this morning, so it's a really good effort by her in the heat.

“She did well in the centre and then we decided to move her into goal attack and I think that move really payed off for us, because she did an amazing job in there.”

Sophie McDonald and Nell Mitchell were the Saints’ other best players.

Mitchell scored 43 of the Saints 58 goals with McLaren (eight goals) and Pulling (seven goals) lending a helping hand scoring the other 15 goals.

Ruby Wilson, Liz Byrne and Ally O’Connor were named in the best for the visitors, with shooter Eliza Dwyer scoring 34 goals and Byrne scoring 13.

Koroit’s next fixture is another home game against North Warrnambool at Victoria Park, while South will take on Hamilton Kangaroos at Friendly Societies’ Park when round one kicks off on April 14.