Panmure mentor Chris Bant has reminded his troops not to get ahead of themselves after a thumping round one win against Dennington on Saturday.
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The Bulldogs got the jump on the Dogs and kept them at bay to run out 24.18 (162) to 1.5 (11) winners in the Warrnambool and District league.
"It's easy when you have a 20-something goal win to think 'we're pretty good' but it's a good level of footy and you can come back to earth pretty quick," Bant said.
"I've got a lot of respect for Collegians, they've played a lot of finals and grand finals.
"They are still going to be hard to beat, it's on their ground so we've got to make sure we bring our pressure and I think if we can bring our pressure we can beat anyone on our day."
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The Bulldogs will be looking for revenge after the Warriors thrashed them in a 2019 elimination final.
Warriors coach Nick Sheehan was a keen onlooker at Dennington Recreation Reserve on Saturday as his side faces Panmure and Dennington in the next fortnight.
A season without WDFNL footy - due to the coronavirus pandemic - meant there were plenty of new faces on the park for both the Bulldogs and Dogs.
Dennington blooded recruits including Bronte Baker, Jonathon Malone, Reggie Barling, Cooper Graham, Jack Johnstone and Liam Byrne.
Panmure had new faces such as Liam Lyons, Isaac Sinnott, Brady Purcell, Daniel Roache, Tate Gardiner and Matt Colbert.
Both clubs had jumper presentations before the match.
Ben Thornton finally got to coach his first game since taking over as the Dogs' mentor last year.
"It was good to see those few new boys run around in the club colours for the first time," he said.
"I hadn't watched a lot of them play footy, obviously with the time off, so to see them get a hit-out was very pleasing.
"A young bloke who really stood out was Nyle Gurry.
"He played really well across several positions, we threw him around at centre half-forward and centre half-back and then the last quarter he ran onball and did his job in every spot."
Thornton felt Panmure played well in the wet while his group didn't adjust to the conditions.
The Dogs' mentor said recruit Paddy Douglas suffered a knee injury.
Bant, who kicked six majors, felt his team set the game up in the first quarter.
They took full advantage of a strong breeze, slotting eight goals.
The coach said he pushed his time during pre-season and made sure they played quality opposition in practice matches.
They had warm-up games against Hampden teams Terang Mortlake and North Warrnambool Eagles as well as Colac and District league side, Alvie.
Panmure travels to Davidson Oval to take on Old Collegians in round two.
Dennington will make the trip to Timboon Recreation Reserve for battle with Timboon Demons.
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