stuart.teather@starnewsgroup.com.au

CALDER Cannons got their 2009 TAC Cup season off to a flying start with a blistering 38-point win over local rival Northern Knights at Princes Park.

Cannons supporters will be pleased with what they saw after the new look side had the game under control all day in a rainy affair at Princes Park.

The Cannons came out firing and grabbed an early lead with excellent ball movement helping to propel the side forward.

The second quarter was a similar affair, as the Cannons pushed out to a 33-point half-time lead.

The two Jakes - Melksham and Carlisle - booted two each for the quarter, both on the receiving end of some outstanding delivery from the midfield.

The third quarter was a lacklustre affair early and it took more than half a quarter before a team kicked a major, with the Cannons’ Melksham adding another to his tally.

At three-quarter time, with the margin at 46 points, Knights coach Denis Pagan pled with his players to run and carry the ball.

Pagan demanded that his charges play on at every opportunity, take risks and take the game on and to a point that was what happened.

The Knights pegged the margin back slowly in the final quarter, but the game was done and dusted and the Cannons ran out 14.12.96 to 8.10.58 winners.

Cannons coach Martin Allison, in his first game in the role, said his players executed the game plan perfectly.

“What we really concentrated on is moving the ball quickly and pushing the ball deep in the forward line; lifting our vision and hitting up the tall forwards, and the players really executed that well,” he said.

Allison picked out a number of developing players, including Carlisle, Ned Daniher and Steve McCallum as some of the highlights, but said youngster Dion Prestia was perhaps the best of all.

Prestia, who was a star in the Cannons’ under 16 side last year, looked at home in his first hit-out in the under 18 competition, running free across halfback for the entire game and was a catalyst in many of the Cannons’ forward surges.

“Dion was fantastic, he played the whole game across halfback... he really launched a lot of attacks,” Allison said.

At the other end, Knights team manager Peter Kennedy said his side was simply outclassed.

“I think you’ve got to give full credit to Calder; their attack on the ball was terrific, they were a lot harder at the ball than we were,” he said.

“Their attack on the footy, run and carry through the midfield and their numbers at the contest and defensive pressure really limited us. We just couldn’t get our game going because of their fierceness at the contest.”

For the Knights, Dylan Grimes was one of the few bright lights in an otherwise gloomy day.

The 192cm 17-year-old played on-ball for the first three-quarters before getting moved to centre-halfback in the final term, where he had a tough quarter on the ever-dangerous Daniel Talia.

Kennedy singled out halfback flanker Josh Griffiths, ruckman Joel McLellan and onballer Kane Lambert as the few standouts in his side.

Looking on the bright side, Kennedy said things could only get better.

“We’ve been beaten by six goals and played poorly - we can only improve from here.”

This weekend the Knights play Oakleigh at home on Saturday morning, while the Cannons play NSW/ACT at Victoria Park on Sunday afternoon.