The 2015 Ipswich Rugby League season kicked-off on Saturday with a triple-header at the North Ipswich Reserve.
The first game saw last year's wooden spooners West End Bulldogs get off to a flying start defeating Swifts Bluebirds 50-12.
The Bulldogs have gone into the 2015 season with many expecting great things from the club.
Those expectations only grew early in the match when new West End recruit Shane Gibson finished-off a sweeping backline play to allow the Bulldogs to take a 6-nil lead only three minutes into the match.
After a flying start the Bulldogs were forced into a lot of defence in their own territory turning Swifts away and denying them scoring opportunities where a lesser team would have cracked.
After being turned away repeatedly Swifts created an overlap on West End's right-edge defence and timed their passes perfectly to send Aaron Angaru over in the corner to get the Bluebirds back within two points.
For the rest of the first-half it was all West End, with tries to Fa'aaliga Salaivao, Brook Alofipo, Fili Notoa and Samson Hookey giving the Bulldogs a commanding 28-4 halftime lead.
Swifts fullback Dan O'Reilly scored six minutes after halftime to give the Bluebirds hope of a comeback, but only four minutes later West End centre Brook Alofipo got on the outside of Swifts' defence and burned everyone for pace to score a stunning long-range try to restore the Bulldogs' hefty lead back to a 24-point margin.
When Samson Hookey scored for West End in the 53rd minute and Oti Oti scored for Swifts in the 58th minute it seemed like the margin would stay roughly the same for the remainder of the match.
But tries to Errol Palmer and Brook Alofipo in the final 17 minutes blew the margin out to give West End a strong 50-12 win.
In the other Ipswich Rugby League Mayor Paul Pisasale A Grade Cup round one games, Goodna defeated Fassifern 28-26 and defending premiers Norths Tigers defeated 2014 runners-up Brothers in a Grand Final rematch 26-16.
Next week sees the start of the 2015 Ipswich Rugby League Whitehead Studios Reserve Grade Cup and Boettcher Realty Colts Cup.
