The Roosters ended Port Fairy's dominance over the club at Gardens Oval on Saturday with a 13.6 (84) to 10.15 (75) victory, which coach Mat Battistello described as a sign his side was maturing.

"They want to take their game to the next level and certainly their pre-season has been flawless," he said.

"Their professionalism has been sensational and I think we have got huge improvement to come and every week presents a challenge and the opposition, from all regards, it's going to be extremely competitive year.

"We identify and respect that Port had a couple of players out and so did we but it's great to get a win from a nice game of footy."

The Roosters' examples of new maturity came from the level head of 18-year-old debutant Jed Henderson, who floated across half-back, and former Saint Hamish Gurry up forward.

The 20-year-old proved a handful for the Seagulls in the attacking 50 to finish with three majors.

Battistello said he was impressed by his side's goal-kicking, which included seven individual and five multiple goal-kickers.

"I couldn't tell the goal-kickers so that is a reflection on what we are trying to do up there," he said.

"We all share the load in regards to there and don't necessarily care who kicks them as long as we get them on the board. They were pretty efficient and it was a good reward for effort." 

But despite the impressive showing the Roosters mentor said competition within the senior group at Friendly Societies' Park was still high as the club's reserves and under 18s collected comfortable victories.

"The culture that we wanted to create was to make sure we were really competitive and we have good depth and making sure our performance reflects that you aren't going to walk up and get a game every single week," he said.

"Our first game (reserves) their brand is what we require so we wouldn't hesitate to bring any of those players in and play a role."

Port Fairy playing-coach Dan Nicholson can also expect competition for spots to be at the front of his mind heading towards a round two away clash against Portland.

"We will have a few headaches next week as we have big Sandy Robinson back, Kurt Smith is back, Johnny Bell is back, Dylan Herbertson is back and Josh Dwyer is back," he said.

"We have got five walk-up starts who could be coming back into the side and we will review game and make those calls Thursday night."

Nicholson, who enters his second season as the Seagulls mentor, said his side would learn plenty from its opening round defeat.

"Offensively we want those forward-half turnovers and we are getting that initial entry but they are pretty shallow," the midfielder said.

 "When the opposition get it back we need to be able to press up and get that secondary turnover and then score from it, which is what they did really well."

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