Another Waratah opening round blast, a comeback win by the Darwin Buffaloes, and Nightcliff's workmanlike win over St Mary's grabbed the headlines in the opening round of the 2023/24 TIO NTFL Men's Premier League opening round.
And Wanderers, weakened by the loss of stars Steven and Thomas Motlop to rivals PINT, played some attractive football in a 29-point win over Palmerston.
Waratah gained the services of former Essendon-listed player Anthony Munkara in the week leading up to the grand final rematch against Southern Districts.
Munkara then proceeded to kick six match-winning goals in a brilliant debut for the red and whites, a match tally that included four behinds as Tah's won 19.12 (126) to 5.8 (38).
Utility Edward Morris and lionhearted ruckman Arnold Kirby were other good contributors for the premiers, who repeated last season's opening-round thrashing of St Mary's with another barnstorming start.
Anthony Munkara was tipped to join his old side the Tiwi Bombers after being released by Essendon, but his friendship with fast-rising Tiwi youngster Dwayne Kerinaiua lured him to Gardens Oval.
Premiership coach Ryan Ayres liked what he saw from his new-look side against a Districts side boosted by the recruitment of former Hawthorn, North Melbourne, and Gold Coast footballer Jed Anderson.
An eight-goal to-nothing last quarter emphasized the quality of this Tah's side and their intent in backing up last season's senior flag.
"We had some new players for this game, but there's been some kids come through have been playing the same system,'' he said.
"But having some experienced players out there who have played the Waratah way over a number of years means the boys have bonded very well.
"And we're happy to have Anthony Munkara on board, he's good mates with Dwayne Kerinaiua, and that has worked out very well for us.''
The Darwin Buffaloes ran over the top of PINT in Saturday's 2pm game, kicking nine goals to three in a hard-running second half to come from behind and beat the Greenants by 12 points.
Captain Jarrod Stokes was in superlative form through the middle, while long-kicking centreman Baxter Mensch, who crossed from Palmerston in the pre-season, and big spearhead Daniel Stafford were important players.
Buffaloes' coach Cameron Stokes was full of praise for the Stokes-Mensch partnership engine room that provided his forwards with plenty of goalscoring opportunities.
"Plus Kevin Maroney managed to work his way into the game after having three goals kicked on him early and Matty Campbell's guidance and experience out of the back pocket was fantastic for us.''
PINT had several good players, including four-goal forwards Matt Ryan and Silver Yousif, defender Ethan Penrith, and lionhearted ruckman Connor McDonald, but Darwin's run and clever use of handball won them the game.
Nightcliff presented first-year coach Leigh Crossman with four premiership points when they beat St Mary's by 19 points in Saturday's late game at TIO Stadium.
A five-goal to two first quarter, including four goals in six minutes, lifted the Tigers into a lead they never relinquished despite another big game from Saints' reigning Nichols medallist and new captain Dylan Landt.
Jonathan Lanyon and Brodie Filo were inspirational through the middle of the ground and veteran Tiger Nathan Brown's work off half-back was an important piece of the Nightcliff armoury.
Crossman said his side had been able to stop St Mary's from scoring goals at important stages of the match.
"They (St Mary's) kicked a lot of points and we managed to take our chances and come out on top,'' he said.
"We had a couple of good bursts during the game and so did they, when the pleasing thing for us was the ability to stop them scoring goals that could have hurt us."
Wanderers coach Aaron Motlop spoke post-match of his immense pride in his players after they withstood a big challenge from Palmerston to win by 29 points.
"All 22 players went out there and represented our club in the best way by getting a great win to start the season off, it was unbelievable,'' Motlop said.
"One of the pleasing things was the way we gutted it out and played a really good brand of Wanderers footy when Palmerston did work their way into the game and started to show some dominance."
The Eagles were best served by hard-nut recruit Austin Smith in a midfield role that included keeping tabs on Magpie young gun Waylon Davey.
Nathan Arbon around the ball had a big possession game and the reliable Braedon McLean got several important touches on a wing and across half back.