Riverside scored the first goal of the contest inside the opening three minutes.

But the Hobart school had responded brilliantly to slam on nine unanswered goals for a 9.11 (65) to 1.0 (6) win.

The state’s premier schoolboy competition – the brainchild of AFL club Hawthorn and backed by AFL Tasmania – had pitted the champion team from each of the three regions against one another at UTAS Stadium.

After going down in the 2017 final, St Virgil’s came out of the blocks fast in the opening round-robin game to set up a five goal-to-nil first half to convincingly hold off Riverside by 44 points.

Riverside got the upper hand of Burnie High heading into half-time of their clash.

The home team led by 17 points at the long break and maintained their three-goal buffer to prove too good in a 4.4 (28) to 1.4 (10) victory.

Riverside sweated on the last game of the round-robin series in which Burnie had to beat St Virgil’s to reach the late afternoon final. 

But they need not worry after Burnie were totally outclassed from the outset.

St Virgil’s well-drilled and skillful side romped home to a 7.9 (51) to 0.2 (2) win.

Oliver Davis capped off a dominant three matches, named after final siren the St Virgil’s MVP medallist.

Harry Jago won Riverside High’s medal for his school’s best player, while Kynan West was Burnie High’s standout.