PORTLAND’S Open side had a promising round one performance in the Hampden Netball League, drawing against Port Fairy on Saturday, 50-50, despite holding at least a five-goal lead at every quarter break.

It was a dominant start from the home side who worked their way into new attacking combinations of Heidi Jones and Shakira Stuchbery in the circle while Remy Grant and Tonaya Bannam fed well out front.

At the first break Portland held a 14-9 lead with most players taking to the court in the opening term through utilising the new rolling substitution rule.

“I think the girl worked really hard, it was hot out there today and we used the rolling subs as much as we could,” playing coach Laura Kelly said.

“Overall, there are a lot more positives than negatives and the team gelled really well together for the first round.

“Shak and Heidi did really well, Heidi is coming back from an ankle injury, and we switched her into shooter and put Shak out front for a bit and they did really well.”

The Tigers continued their dominance in the second quarter with playing-coach Laura Kelly winning plenty of the ball to provide opportunities down the court.

Rotations continued to come for Portland with all 10 players getting court time throughout the contest, with Lexie Petch injecting some speed into attack while youngsters Millie Ferguson and Maddi-Lyse Stone were used in both attack and defence.

Heading into the third term Portland held a six-goal lead but Port Fairy refused to get pushed out of the game, pegging back the margin every time it blew out by more than five goals.

It was a 39-34 scoreline moving into the fourth quarter, with the Tigers holding steady before a lift from Port Fairy’s defensive unit through the midcourt forced Portland on the back foot.

The Seagulls managed to capitalise on some crucial ball won through the middle third, pegging the margin back to two goals.

In the final stages of the clash, Port Fairy pushed ahead to gain their first lead of the match by one goal, but the Tigers were able to compose to level the scores before the final whistle to earn two points for the ladder.

“In defence I feel like we worked hard on tall shooters and across the court work rate was high for periods but there was definitely a lull at times which was where (Port Fairy) was able to impact,” Kelly said.

“Consistency is our goal for this season and round one has shown it’s something we need to work on which is riding out the game for that full 60 minutes.

“A big take away for the girls is that we could have dropped our heads when they started to come back but instead, we kept fighting until the end which was good.

“Port Fairy was good, all the teams in Hampden will be a bit of a surprise and they had a few tall players which is difficult for us because we don’t have that much height, so we’ll have our work cut out for us against tall teams.”

Jones was a steady attacking force for the Tigers to be named their best player for the game alongside Stuchbery, who was a strong target in the goal circle.

Kelly was also named in the best players for her defensive efforts but praised fellow defender Brianna Malcolm for her efforts as well as Grant who ran out centre.

“Shak was great out there for us and Remy is just a workhorse, she’s driving up and down the whole game and Heidi was great too,” Kelly said.

“Brianna (Malcolm) was good in defence; she hasn’t played for a long while now and she slotted into the team no worries and it felt good with her out there.

“It was good to work with her and we’ll only get better as the season goes on.

“It’s just good to be here and playing netty – the nerves for round one are gone now so we can just get on with it.”