PORTLAND couldn’t be happier with its first month of the Hampden Football League season, with Saturday night’s convincing victory over Camperdown at Hanlon Park marking a fourth successive win.

Heading into a bye round for the competition this weekend, the Tigers are one of just two sides (the other being South Warrnambool) to go unbeaten over the first four rounds and they sit a game clear of Koroit, and two wins ahead of North Warrnambool, Warrnambool and Cobden.

Despite Camperdown winning just one game to date, Saturday’s match shaped as a dangerous one for the Tigers after a short turnaround from the Anzac Day clash against Hamilton Kangaroos last Monday, but the home side was in complete control and ran out easy winning, 16.17 (113) to 5.7 (37).

The Tigers, kicking to the Hurd St end with the breeze at their backs in the first term, burst out of the blocks with the first five goals of the game and were never threatened.

Portland booted 6.4 (40) to 2.2 (14) in the first quarter with five of the six goals coming from uncontested marks inside the forward 50m arc – and not all of them from passes from their teammates with Camperdown’s defenders feeling the pressure.

Portland would go on to win each of the four quarters on the scoreboard, with the home side on top in all facets of the game.

Only an inaccurate 3.7 (25) in the final term prevented the Tigers from pulling away even further.

“I’m pretty happy with what we dished up tonight,” Portland coach Jarrod Holt said.

“We could have cleaned things up a bit in front of goal, but that is a pretty common theme for us.”

Holt praised the side’s midfield which continues to get the job done – Lochie Huppatz and Toby Jennings named as Portland’s best two, while the likes of Harry McIntyre, Daniel Jackson and Marcus England are providing plenty of grunt in the middle.

“I thought our midfield was dominant which helps a lot.

“We have a bit of depth in there now and that is really going to help us as the season goes on.

“Huppo is a really good player, we knew that when we got him back to the club.

“He’s had a couple of little niggles early in the season but he is getting back to his full fitness and he is showing us what he is capable of which is pretty scary for the opposition.”

The opening goal of the third term was testament to what Huppatz brings to the table with a beautiful tap to space from ruckman Toby Oakley allowing Huppatz to gather the ball cleanly, blind turn an opponent, and drive a piercing 40m kick straight onto the chest of a leading Tom Sharp 30m from goal.

It is exactly the improvement in delivery into the forward line that coach Holt has been harping on about for two years.

Another highlight came later in the quarter when Jennings claimed the mark of the night, a real hanger 20m out from goal, which gave him his second major for the game.

The input from McIntyre is not going unnoticed by the coach either.

“Harry is a good player, he’s tough, he’s good at winning his own ball.

“He’s probably a bit over-critical of himself and his ball use, but I thought he used it really well tonight.

“He plays that inside role really well, and defensively he is excellent.”

The Tigers went into the match without number one ruckman Ben Malcolm, but that opened the door for Sam Hampshire and he did not disappoint.

“Ben got a knock on the knee against Hamilton.

“We didn’t think much of it after the game but it blew up on him. We hope he’ll be right after the week off, if not so be it.

“We have been pretty reliant on Benny for a fair while, so we are really lucky to have Toby (Oakley) this year playing some excellent footy and he was great again tonight.

“Having Sam Hampshire back in the side to play that second ruck and up forward, it was great for him to get through the game and clunk a few marks.

“He’s going to be a very good player for this club for a long time to come.”

The Portland defence is quickly establishing itself as a real strength with the return of Nathan Haylock adding much-needed experience and height, while the improvement of Josh Edwards and Paul Procter has also been crucial.

“We had a couple of options to play on Sam Gordon, but Josh was really keen to have a crack at him.

“One on one he is hard to beat, so we tried to free up Nathan Haylock so that he could give Josh a hand.

“Gordon tore a lot of teams apart last season, so we were very happy with the job those guys did to hold him to two goals.

“The whole back six is playing well.

“The way we play down back is to roll up with a zone and we want to commit to that, but you do live or die by it.

“If you only half commit to it then you will be trouble. Sometimes it will bite us, but the percentages so far this season show that it is working for us and we’ll persist with it.”

Sharp finished the night with another four goals, adding to the hauls of five, three and four in the first three games, while Jackson Dunlop has also been a model of consistency with his three goals coming on top of returns of two in each of his previous games.

Kade Lovell also popped up with three goals, his best return since breaking into the senior side last year.