In the end, the Magpies fell four goals short despite the best efforts of Lachy Philpott and Jesse Schmidt.

Club president Craig Dicker said there were plenty of positives to emerge from the game.

“We had some good passages of play, but once again we’re a pretty new side and a lot of blokes haven’t played together before,” he said.

“For the first game of the year it wasn’t too bad, but there are still plenty of things to work on.

“Sawtell have a new side and have lost a lot of players from when they won three comps in a row, so they have a young side and we’re pretty evenly matched.”

There wasn’t a standout performer in front of goal with the majors being shared around.

Jesse Schmidt and Luke Boxhall kicked a couple of goals each.

Dicker said it was most pleasing that the score “didn’t get away” like it had done in previous years.

“We didn’t give in at any point,” he said.

“We had some ups and downs throughout the game, but we never hung our heads and we kept battling away.”

The Magpies play their first home game of 2018 on April 28 at Wayne Richards Park.