Right Royal drubbing at Centennial

Royals have dished out an opening round drubbing, thrashing a disappointing Mt Barker by 102 points in today’s fixture at Centennial Stadium.

There has been plenty of hype around the Lions in the build-up to 2019 and it was justified in the first-up display as they outworked their opponents and used run and carry to great effect.

It was a goal apiece at quarter time and from that moment on it was all the Lions as they kicked the next 17 goals of the game to cruise to a 18.11 (119) to 2.5 (17) victory.

New recruit Jordan Heil was outstanding along with the returning Steven Edwards (three goals) while Jayson Ford booted four majors and was a constant threat in attack.

Nathan Powell was solid in the ruck, Corey Ward constantly cut off supply at half-back and Jaiden Alison booted five second-half majors.

The only sour point for the Lions was injuries to Cameron Allison, Ryan Kinnear and Rhys Jones.

It was a bleak day for the Bulls as they simply never looked like containing the speedy Lions.

Jesse Wynne started strongly and kicked their first major but the Bulls were well beaten across the board.

Captain Peter Taylor was one of their best contributors, Daniel Henderson worked hard and young defender Brent Parsons was impressive.