In the A1 competition Wodonga defeated Benalla at Benalla 126 to 52 with all four rinks getting the job done.

“I can’t remember winning by more than that in the 20 years I’ve been playing,” Bates said.

“I think it’s probably the biggest win we’ve ever had.”

It was a good day all round for Wodonga with the team winning A2 Blue and A3.

But in the A1 competition the biggest positive was the performance of the club’s newcomers.

Mason Baylis made a mature A1 debut after playing with Beechworth in the A3 competition last year.

The young gun made the move to Wodonga to play with his grandfather — A1 rink skipper Paul Carey.

Paul Davies and Bob Harbridge, who have moved to Wodonga from Commercial Club, also played well.

Bates praised the Benalla greens and said he was pleased with how his team was looking after the first round of the season.

“I was certainly happy,” he said.

“We’ve got at least four new players ... they all performed well.

“I think Mason (Baylis) was pretty excited to be playing.

“He came up two grades and handled himself very well.

“It was a very good start but we have a long way to go.

“If we play to our potential we’ll be hard to beat.”

Wodonga took 18 points for the win as did Corowa Services who porved too good at home for Yarrawonga.

In a hard-fought tussle, Corowa Services came out on top 103 to 85.

Home side Myrtleford came away with two points but lost the battle against Yarra/Mul GCR 120 to 76.

And home side Rutherglen won 14 points to four against Wangaratta.

In an entertaining contest Rutherglen held all the answers, taking out the game 116 to 87.