The Northern Blues’ VFL season got off to a disappointing start today, going down by 49 points to Footscray at Whitten Oval.

The Dogs led all day, keeping Northern at an arm’s length to triumph 15. 14. (104) to 8. 7. (55)

Footscray dominated in the middle early on, winning the clearances 15 to five to take an 18-point lead into quarter-time.

The Blues gave away three free kicks inside 50 in the first quarter which put them right behind the eight-ball early on.

Northern had the better of the Dogs in the third quarter, but two goals to Will Minson saw his side still hold a four-goal lead going into the final quarter.

Footscray had all the running in the last, kicking away with four goals to none to eventually come away with a comfortable opening-round victory.

It was a disappointing start to the Blues’ new season in the first game under senior coach Josh Fraser, who would have been heartened by his side’s resolve in the third term.

Ultimately it was too great of a spread of contributors which proved too much for the Dogs to handle on the day.

Dillon Viojo-Rainbow was impressive to finish with 25 disposals, with the wingman collecting 11 disposals and kicking a goal in the Blues’ third-quarter revival.

Adcock, Dale, Honeychurch, Jamieson and Wallis all finished with two goals for the home side.

Dick finished with 30 disposals across half-back for the Blues with Tutt (27), Strachan (25) and Viojo-Rainbow (24) the next best.

Andrew Gallucci was effective whenever he got the ball inside 50, kicking two goals and setting up another.

Liam Jones was the leading goalkicker with three, with Gallucci the only other multiple goalkicker with two.

Lachie Plowman continued to impress in his first year with the Blues, finishing with 19 disposals and five marks from managed game time. 

Fellow first-year player David Cuningham finished with 21 disposals, showing some impressive signs but fading out of the game in the last.

The Dogs were too strong for Northern and led from start to finish, largely thanks to their dominance in the middle of the ground (401 disposals to 359).

Speaking post-match, Blues defender Simon White said the side could take some positives but there was a lot of work to be done ahead of the trip to the Cattery on Friday night.

“I think we fought hard for parts of the game and we controlled a fair bit of momentum, but they’re a quality outfit and we need to stay in the game for longer,” White said.

“We went away from the things that we were doing well in the third quarter so there’s still some big room for improvement there.”

White said the third quarter showed the Blues’ potential, but ultimately it was a lack of opportunities for the forwards which cost the side in the end.

“We won our fair share of the footy but our decisions going inside 50 need a bit of work: we had a strong target in there in ‘Jonesy’ but we didn’t get the ball to him enough.”

White said the form of fellow defender Plowman was a positive to take from the contest.

“The form of ‘Plow’ was a positive, he was very good in the air, he’s a good size and he’s coming back from injury well.”

The Northern Blues face Geelong under lights on Friday at Simonds Stadium in round two.

FOOTSCRAY                  5.2     9.4    11.11    15. 14. (104)
NORTHERN BLUES    2.2    5.3     8.5       8. 7. (55)

GOALS
Footscray: Adcock 2, Dale 2, Honeychurch 2, Jamieson 2, Minson 2, Wallis 2, Campbell, Goetz, Hamilton
Northern Blues: Jones 3, Gallucci 2, Viojo-Rainbow, Jaksch, Gorringe