It was a staggering blowout at Gumly Oval and started in the opening seconds as Harry Fitzsimmons and Chris Jackson got the ball into Chris Ladhams within two kicks. 

The ex-AFL recruit lived up to his reputation, bagging the first of his nine goals within a minute of football in the Farrer League, constantly using his body and brilliant hands to provoke headaches for the Coleambally backline.

If that wasn't bad enough, the Blues also had to contend with a new-look Nick Hull, who either lost a bet to teammate Brocke Argus or is hoping to catch the umpires' eye even more this year and add to his two league medals.

Seven goals in round one didn't hurt with the big man resting forward when relieved in the ruck by Kyle North-Flanagan, and stretching the Blues defence.

At moments in the first quarter, Coleambally gave a glimpse that they'll be a much improved side on last year, with Tom Groves clearly going to get support from talents like Curtis Steele and Raven Marika while co-coach Luke Hillier and the returning Shaun Light also add spark. 

But they ran into a hot favourite first up and, without Dean Pound, Todd Clark, Tom Morton, Jess Spencer, were outclassed. 

Ladhams had kicked 2.2 after 13 minutes and the Blues, who missed three shots, did well to limit the damage to just three goals in the first quarter.

With the Hawks running north in the second, things quickly went south as Jackson goaled almost immediately and just missed going back-to-back.

But Coleambally's kick out was intercepted by Ash Hard who delivered it into Ladhams for another goal.

Pretty soon, Jacob Tiernan and Harrison Leddin had them out to almost a 50-point lead before Hull banged in two in a row to ensure an horrific 9.8 to 0.4 scoreline by half-time.

The Blues kicked their first goal of the game in the third quarter and by the last break had three on the board to Adam Hardy, Dwayne Weetra and Adam Mannes.

But the Hawks had piled on six to go further ahead before destroying the visitors in the fourth, adding another nine goals while keeping the Blues to a solitary point on a warm and sunny afternoon but a beautiful deck at Gumly.

The final scoreline was stark and unexpected -  24.16 (160) to 3.8 (26) - and a sobering sign for Coleambally. 

With Chris Gordon's vision, brilliance and direction out of the middle, where Fitzsimmons also looked like he's ready to take flight this year, the Hawks were a cut above.

And when Coleambally did go forward, Trent Garner and Nick Curran led the EWK defence and kept turning them around. 

The Hawks should also have Ben Absolum back for next week's trip to Ariah Park to take on the Northern Jets while Coleambally will need to pick themselves up from a horror start to host a hurtingThe Rock-Yerong Creek, who went down to the Jets.

While you're with us, did you know that The Daily Advertiser is now offering sports and local events as part of its growing email newsletter service? Sign up here.