Across Friday's NAB Cup matches against Melbourne and North Melbourne, the Richmond spearhead kicked 3.3 and set up at least three others, with Roo Scott Thompson and Demon James Frawley his main opponents.

While there were some glimpses of early season rust, he led and marked strongly, and was good when the ball hit the ground.

Dodges Ferry high flier Jeremy Howe was also in good touch with 2.0 from six touches and four marks across half-forward against North, but was a non-factor against Richmond.

Wynyard's Colin Garland also had two matches, collecting six touches across the two games for the Demons.

North's Nathan Grima, of Evandale, did not play despite being named in the Roos' initial squad.

Glenorchy's Aaron Cornelius defied the greasy conditions at Metricon Stadium on Saturday to put on a strong aerial show against Gold Coast.

Floating between half-back and half-forward, Cornelius took two strong grabs at a time when others were struggling to hold on to the ball.

Matthew Warnock was his main opponent, with the Tasmanian kicking 1.0 from seven possessions and three marks.

That match was also the first for Gold Coast's Jesse Lonergan, with the Launceston midfielder getting his hands on the ball and having a shot at goal in his first 13 seconds as an AFL player.

Lonergan looked comfortable collecting eight touches and kicking 0.2 on Mitch Golby and Claye Beams.

Maverick Weller, of Burnie, had six touches in defence on Dayne Zorko, while Jacob Gillbee had just the one handball.

Cornelius's teammate Josh Green was kept to three possessions by Joel Wilkinson, which came after a lively 10-touch game against Hawthorn.

That contest saw Burnie's Luke Russell for the second time win a game for Gold Coast off his own boot after his after-the-siren point gave the Suns victory, which capped off a 10-possession game.

Russell, of course, was the man who kicked the sealing goal in the Suns' first ever win in 2011.

Hobart's Aaron Hall was also prominent in that outing, collecting seven touches pushing up the ground.

Hawthorn's Grant Birchall, of Devonport, and Brisbane's Ryan Harwood, did not play.

Launceston's Tim Mohr put in a strong 12-touch, three-mark performance playing on Carlton's Andrew Walker in Greater Western Sydney's opening match at Blacktown.

He followed that up with four touches against Sydney playing on Tommy Walsh. That game saw North Hobart's Sam Darley put in a strong eight-disposal performance.

For the Blues, Lauderdale's Mitch Robinson was good against the Giants with eight touches, but was tagged out of the win over Sydney, while Glenorchy's Aaron Joseph and North Hobart's Marcus Davies also got their first runs of the year.