Jolliffe, who missed the second half of last season as he battled cancer, warmed into the match and picked up as if he had never been away as the Raiders cruised to a 17.18 (120) to 13.4 (82) triumph.

He roamed the field, but was most dangerous when floating across half-forward, despite a return of 1.2, as the Raiders took control after quarter-time with faster ball movement and cleaner skills.

Fielding just four players from the team that lost by 162 points to Albury in round 18 after Kyle Maynard (ankle) was a late withdrawal, the Raiders traded blows with the Magpies in the first term, going into the break six points down.

But with North Albury recruit Shane Munro in electric form on the wing, the visitors found another gear and piled on six of the next seven goals to build an advantage they never looked like surrendering.

Classy recruit Jake Goldsmith and another Hopper signing in Jethro Calma-Holt were outstanding up forward, providing multiple avenues to goal — a feature which increased as the game went on, with Jydon Neagle (three goals) and Ross Tungatalum (two) also dangerous.

Goldsmith had three goals at half-time on his way to four for the match, while Neagle’s younger brother Matt, a late inclusion on debut, was another to impress.

Henty whizkid Sam Murray took some time to find his feet, but once he did, was another stand­out for the Raiders, as was Brad St John in the second half.

“It’s a real positive, it was obviously our aim to get four points on the board early, particularly after a tough couple of years for the footy club,” Cresswell said.

“It was important to get some confidence up and I thought the brand of footy we played in patches today was really good, so they should take a lot from that.

“They took it to us early, but the most pleasing thing was we absorbed that and we were able to get the ball to the outside and really use it by foot.

“It was disappointing we couldn’t convert in front of goals but there were some really good signs.” 

Cresswell said the Raiders were a work in progress, but said the club’s recruits were important in carrying that through for the talented youngsters.

“We know we’re coming from a pretty low base, the players we’ve brought into the club are real standard-setters at training, so the young blokes have something to look up to,” he said.

“I was really proud of them (Murray and Neagle), two 17 year olds playing their first games, and Ethan Boxall wasn’t far away either — we’ve got some really good young kids coming through and the senior blokes are leading by example.” 

Wangaratta captain Matt Kelly was at his best in the absence of fellow midfield star Jamie Allan (calf), dominating out of the middle to drive the ball forward, while Daine Porter shone with three goals and Robbie Hicks (three) bobbed up at various stages.

Joel Harris presented well, but wasn’t as clean as he would have liked, dropping several marks, and Matt Westhoff was restricted by a slight hamstring twinge in the first term.

“We started well and I think we won two quarters, but we just got a bit lackadaisical and they really made us pay — they made the most of every chance they got, they were well drilled, well structured, well organised,” Wangaratta coach Mark Knobel said.

“(The goalkicking) was probably the only key performance area we met tonight, but we just kept breaking down through the middle and half forward and didn’t get enough entries inside.

“We played our best side available and on the day it wasn’t good enough — (Allan) would have added some polish, but we’ve just got some other things to get