by Nicholas Duck
Matches against Phillip Island have hardly been happy hunting grounds for Garfield in recent years.
Saturday proved to be no exception for the Stars, who were swept aside by the visiting Bulldogs to the tune of 84 points, the final score 8.7 (55) to 22.7 (139).
Despite some solid patches of play across the day the scoreboard was never particularly in Garfield's favour as they were left behind the eight ball early and scrambling for answers.
One riddle they just couldn't work out was how to handle Jack Taylor. The Bulldogs skipper ran riot, booting six goals in a magnificent best on ground performance.
He had plenty of assistance too, as both his brother Billy and coach Cam Pedersen had their kicking boots on with four each.
Garfield were best served by Ben Tenace-Greenall, who refused to give an inch down back despite the tide against him.
Angus Emery fought the good fight both down back and through the middle, as did Stars coach Eddie Morris.
Lachlan Schreurs and Jahmain Harrison were also solid but the gulf in class between the two teams, even with Phillip Island's much more inexperienced side, proved too much to overcome.
It's a rare thing for Phillip Island to cop consecutive losses and, having suffered a heavy defeat in round one, it was clear from the outset that the visitors were out to make amends in round two.
Five goals to one in the first term had last year's runners-ups rocking and rolling, the Stars by contrast having to work hard for their reward.
The absence of spearhead recruit Mitch Johnson didn't help their case either, leading them into old habits at times when they did have the rare chance to move the ball forward.
Injuries to Jesse Wouters and Zac Soutar only made things more difficult.
A further six goals from the Bulldogs stretched the lead out to 47 points at half time. It was a tough margin for any side to chase but for Garfield, who are still in the process of learning how to score, it felt pretty insurmountable.
So it proved to be, a stronger effort from the Stars in the third quarter as they almost doubled their score not meaning a lot in the overall contest as the Bulldogs poured in some late goals to blow the margin out further.
More positively, Garfield's final tally of eight goals still had them well ahead of last year's average, backing up some decent potency last week against Warragul Industrials.
Garfield coach Eddie Morris said it was "back to reality" for his side this week.
"We just didn't come to play unfortunately. They jumped us at the start and we took a bit to settle. Pretty disappointing day for us," he said.
The Garfield brains trust will now have two weeks rework going before an intriguing battle with Koo wee rup on May 3.