The Lions confirmed their status as the team to beat in the Riverina League with a 95-point thrashing of Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes in the top of the table clash at Ganmain Sportsground on Sunday.

It was GGGM's third straight win to start the year and backed up earlier victories of 67 points against Wagga Tigers and 58 points against Coolamon.

The Lions, who finished as minor premiers in last year's unfinished season, are flying early but Martyn believes the club's leaders won't allow any players to get cocky after three rounds.

"We've got some fantastic leaders in terms of Jacob Olsson and Ben Walsh that have been apart of that regime previously where they experienced so much success," Martyn said.

"I think they're the sort of players I turn to and they're able to give me some really good insights as to how they went about it but again, they're just two blokes who love their footy club and are very down to earth and I don't think they would allow anyone at this footy club to get ahead of themselves.

"That's the beauty of it, our leaders are really good at making sure we enjoy the wins, so to speak, but keep levelled headed."

Martyn said he doesn't need to cast his mind too far back to remember things can change quickly.

"Mango did the same thing to us last year, we went to their deck and they pulled our pants down and made us look second rate so again, I'm under no illusions when we go there it's a different ball game," he said.

"They'll get their quality players back in and they'll be a really tough opponent."

MORE SPORT NEWS

Trent Castles, Ryan Price, Ethan Schiller, Brayden Ambler, Nick McCormack, Ben Halse, Max Hanrahan, Dom Bunyan and Pat Killalea were some of the players missing for MCUE on Sunday.

At the same time, Martyn said it would be foolish to ignore the threat of Collingullie-Glenfield Park, who have won two from two early in the season.

"I guess Collingullie are showing early on that they're a team that's up to the challenge this year," he said.

"They've got some really good talls, added some good midfield depth.

"We've obviously got to do the job in Griffith next week but then we get to look forward to that Collingullie game and again put our brand to the test against quality opposition."

One thing that has been evident with GGGM over the first three weeks is how well-drilled they are on their structure and game plan.

Martyn believes having last year's experience behind them has them in a strong position for 2022.

"I guess it helps having exposed the boys to how I wanted to play last year and having another year, a pre-season under our belts to adapt and make any minor tweaks but also just getting accustomed to it is a huge help," he said.

"I think they probably picked it up a lot quicker than what I thought last year, my assumption was it might be a bit more of a development year but it unfolded a bit quicker than that and yeah I thought this year was the year that we would play the sort of footy that I anticipated and it's great to see.

"They're a really coachable group and I think that's what I've learnt. There is no egos, it's a really strong culture. I've been so blessed coming to a football club that has a really strong foundation, you don't have to do too much.

"We didn't go and recruit those bigger names, so to speak, as the other teams did, we just backed those at the club, gained some depth and it's put us in a really good place to have a tilt at the title this year."

George Alexander, who kicked consecutive bags of nine to start the year, came off with a chest complaint midway through the second term on Sunday.

He had been well-held to that point and will look to find out the full extent of any potential injury this week. Martyn didn't expect it to be anything too serious, adding the club was keen to take a cautious approach with their key forward early in the year.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: