ROB Hawker and his Huskisson-Vincentia Seagulls have started their defence of the Blackmore Bolden Shield with a draw against St Georges Basin.
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At the Huskisson Sporting Field on Saturday, goals from the hosts' Lewis Archibald and Jayden Lee were cancelled out by a brace from Tim White.
"The club had a solid preparation [leading into the game], with plenty of numbers at training," coach Hawker said.
"The boys put in the effort to get off to a strong start, which I think we accomplished as a club - shown by us winning the two lower grade matches, which was pleasing.
"Unfortunately, we started slowly in firsts - it was something we had spoke about but Basin scored inside the first five minutes.
"From there, I believe we dominated play for the next 25 minutes as we got in behind them numerous times, only to have their goalkeeper to make numerous saves - I believe he [Sean Peek] had a brilliant game.
"We were rewarded for the effort with a penalty but we then let ourselves down again allowing Basin to score again before half-time.
"The second half was even, with both us and Basin having chances to win - which saw Scotty [Fagerlund] produce an excellence one-on-one save to maintain the two-all scoreline.
"A draw was probably a fair result in the end."
Despite walking away with only one point, Hawker believes there are plenty of positives to take from the fixture.
"Overall I was very happy with the way we played, given we have four new players [Luke Nolan, Lloyd Nash, Alex Boardman and Jim Neimeier] in our central positions this year," he said.
"We will be much better next week [against Shoalhaven United] for that run and it showed as we kept Basin scoreless in the second half."
Elsewhere, last year's grand finalists Bomaderry showed they will again be a force to the reckoned with.
Nathan Aldridge's troops put four goals past Callala at Bomaderry Oval on Saturday.
The goal-scorers for the Tigers were Brendan Kellett (three) and Brock Toscan, while former Bomaderry player Nick Evans netted the lone goal for Bruno Politano's men.
The other impressive win of the round came from Hayden Lavender's Shoalhaven-Head Berry, who smashed Culburra 3-nil at Vic Zealand Oval.
The hosts had to wait until the 69th to open their account when Alexander Priest scored the Sharks' first goal of the 2020 Shoalhaven District Football Association season.
Eight minutes later, Priest doubled his personal tally, before Nathan Thomas wrapped up all three points in the 85th minute.
Ryan Wiggins and Simon Reid were on target for the Seahawks, while Hayden Strand scored for Andrew Timbs' Roos.
Wrapping up the opening round action was Milton-Ulladulla and Shoalhaven United, who were forced to settle for a 1-all draw at Lighthouse Oval.
Rhys Wilson put the Panthers up 1-nil in the 12th minute before Kaine Good scored from the penalty spot just before the break.
Daniel Todeschini's side dug deep in the final stages on the encounter, after Kel Ferguson received his second yellow card in the 87th minute.
Looking ahead to round two, Culburra will host Sussex, Callala take on the Heads, United and Huskisson will battle for their first win of the season, Illaroo entertain Milton-Ulladulla at Sharman Park and Bomaderry travel to St Georges Basin - with all matches kicking off at 3.30pm.