And in an ominous sign for opponents, last year’s joint best and fairest winner Corey Kennedy dusted off the cobwebs to score one and set up a couple of others in the Saints 102-point demolition of Nelson Bay.

Eddy relished the space provided by his teammates and repeatedly charged straight at the ball and marked strong overhead.

What Eddy missed, Damico snatched up and, while most of his goals came from routine shots, he did throw in one special from 20 metres out on the boundary.

The scoreline of 20.10 130 to 4.4 28 provided one of Maitland’s biggest ­winning margins in their short history.

But it was the manner with which the team played that was most pleasing.

“The great thing is that we still have a lot more room for improvement,” Eddy said after the match.

“Our midfield dominated, particularly Jimmy (Taranto), but he was sell supported by Wade and Cameron (Mitchell).

“The biggest plus for us was the form of Jordan McFadyen in the ruck.

“He has come up from the under 17s this year and rucked all day.

“We do need to work on our rotations in the ruck and the midfield, however, as the guys aren’t going to be able to run out and dominate against the better sides.” 

Eddy said that he expected the huge hole he was able to run into would be plugged up against other teams.

“The forwards and midfielders were very disciplined in leaving the forward line open, but other teams will plug the hole I was able to run into.

“But the great thing was that Aidan offers an alternative target to me and it was really good to see Corey come into some form in the last quarter.

“That gives us multiple options.”

Coach Steve Mitchell was thrilled with the performance of McFayden, who was playing his second game of senior football, and Mitchell Greaves and Kaiden Ritchie who are now in their second year.

Greaves had a break-out game on the wing, repeately providing a link from the backline to attack and providing tremendous defensive pressure.

Mitchell said he had injected his son Cameron into the midfield to add a ­bigger body and a defensive edge to the naturally attacking games of Taranto and Beard.

“The backline was terrific and it allowed us to keep Cameron in the ­middle throughout the game,” he said.

An undermanned Saints division two side were on the wrong side of a 64-point margin against a pumped-up Muswellbrook.

Playing their first season in the Black Diamond AFL, Muswellbrook were well-drilled and full of enthusiasm fuelled by a big crowd of followers.

The Saints were game and a number of players including the hard-as-nails Colin Carrol backed up in division one.

Unfortunately, the Saints young captain Hayden Taylor injured his wrist in under-17s and will miss several weeks.