Eaton got on the board in season 2017 with a clinical win over Busselton during a twilight fixture at Sir Stewart Bovell Park on Saturday.
Busselton started well, winning the ball out of the ruck and rushing it into the forward 50 to give Dean Fancote the first goal.
The Boomers hit back quickly through Chris Atthowe before Matt Buchanan added a second.
A great snap around the body in traffic gave James Daykin the Magpies second goal and then Aidan Fraser scored the third.
As the first term wore on, Atthowe kicked his second against the breeze. Soon after Eaton captain Will Oelsnik was given a yellow card for a brawl that developed after he laid a high tackle.
A resulting 50 metre penalty gave Kobi Howell Busselton’s fourth goal to see the Magpies up by three points at quarter time.
With the breeze on their side, Eaton were able to start the second term strongly.
Matt Jas kicked the first two majors for the Boomers just one minute apart. The second was particularly impressive, with Jas squeezing the ball between the big sticks from a tough angle on the fence about 30 metres out.
The home crowd got excited when Daykin dribbled the ball around his body but the goal umpire had correctly noticed the ball brush the padding on the goal post.
There was no such doubt about Fraser’s next shot on goal as he recorded his second major.
Before the half time siren sounded, Jay Walton, Buchanan and Atthowe added more majors as Eaton got on top of the contest. By the main break the score was 8.6.54 to 5.2.32.
Jackson Arbon kicked the first goal of the third term for Busselton while Walton shanked would should have been a simple goal at the other end.
He atoned a few minutes later by curling the ball in from the boundary line for six points.
Small skill errors started to hurt the Magpies. The league side need to communicate better with all the players at some contests leaping for a mark rather than one staying down to crumb.
Eaton made them pay for these lapses with Kelvin Lawrence reading the breeze perfectly to add another major for the Boomers.
Fraser kicked his third for Busselton late in the term while reigning Hayward medallist Jace Cormack soccered an excellent goal off the ground to give the Boomers a 35 point lead at the final change.
Busselton coach Steve Lester pleaded with his side to be stronger in contests and to cut down the turnovers while Eaton coach Brett Maguire urged his side to keep their heads and push to the end of the game to earn the win they deserved.
The fourth term failed to deliver many highlights with both sides getting stuck into the ball but failing to rack up effective inside 50s.
Busselton’s lack of height up forward meant they were only able to manage a point in the final term while Eaton added goals through Walton, Blake Piggott and Rohan Lilly.
The final score read 15.10.100 to 7.6.48.
Aidan Fraser was best on ground for the Magpies with some strong marking and three goals while Daykin was also strong inside 50.
Reegan Mrsich and James Powley both worked hard through the corridor while Howell ran all night long in a bid to earn his side more of the ball.
The five day break between games did not seem to affect the Boomers who looked slicker than they did in round one – the narrow loss to Bunbury encouraging them to prove they will be competitive this season.