THE Hastings League got off to a flying start on the weekend.
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Round one was played with the Long Flat Dragons in a walk over against competition newcomers the Harrington Hurricanes.
The Dragons demolished the hapless Hurricanes to the tune of 68-8.
Josh Henry was the main destroyer, scoring four tries and kicking five goals, giving him a personal tally of 26 points.
Jason Smith and Keith Hollis pitched in with two tries and Sam Cass, Tom Willemsen, Mitch Johnson, Corey Millgate and Shaun Bannerman each crossed the line once. It wasn't all rosy for the Dragons though as they lost Brendon Noel, James Keaton and James Mumford to injury.
The Kendall Blues were surprise winners over previous years' team to beat, the Lower Macleay Magpies, 22-14. South West Rocks Marlins took out their game against the Lake Cathie Raiders 52-18 and the Beechwood Shamrocks defeated Settlers Sharks 36-12.
Last year's premiers, Comboyne Tigers, enjoyed the bye.
Hastings League's Corey Richardson said the first round set the rest of the season up for some entertaining match-ups.
He said the quality of footy played even early on was a good sign.
"Even throughout the pre-season and the nines competition it was pretty high quality footy," he said.
"And round one was no different.
"In the Macleay and Kendall game it was typical hard footy and then it rained, which resulted in a few dropped balls." He said crowd numbers were also good at most games and he looked forward to seeing them grow even larger into the season.
Richardson said he expected the Marlins, Blues, Magpies Comboyne and the Dragons to be the top sides throughout the competition but also warned the other teams had the ability to upset the apple cart.
Round two kicks off this weekend with Setts Sharks v Comboyne, Kendall v Lake Cathie, Long Flat v Lower Macleay and South West Rocks v Harrington.
Beechwood has the bye.