Merrigum went into the clash having taken the scalps of Stanhope and Nagambie in the first two rounds, but was brushed aside by the home side, who had suffered heavy losses to Shepparton East and Avenel in the first two rounds.
Dookie United stunned the visitors with a nine-goal opening quarter and never allowed the Bulldogs to get back in the game.
Jack Threlfall and Pat McMullan were focal points in attack with six and five goals respectively. In contrast, Merrigum struggled for the only five goals they kicked.
New recruit Ryan Martin again starred for the Bulldogs and his brother Jacob, and David Matthews, also tried hard. They got some support from James Sinclair, Darcy Collins and Jake Ross but not enough to challenge the home side.
Merrigum will now be looking to bounce back this Saturday when it hosts Violet Town.
• Girgarre coach Damian Cupido booted 16 goals in his team’s big win over battler Longwood at Girgarre.
The former Essendon player and Rumbalara premiership coach fed off the dominance of Ash Hughes, Rex Taylor, Ryan Butler and Zac Fitzpatrick to secure the percentage-building 155-point win.
Geordie McMurtrie, Matt Ranger and Nathan Watson tried hard for the visitors but it was one-way traffic for most of the game.
Girgarre faces a much bigger challenge this Saturday when it takes on the undefeated Shepparton East.
• Lancaster continued its winning start to the season with a 94-point win over Tallygaroopna at Lancaster.
Nic Ryan in the ruck and other onballers and midfielders in Jack Donnell and Charlie Lowe kept up a constant supply of chances for the Lancaster forwards where Tim Strapp again provided a reliable target with five goals.
Small forward Kalon Reid was also active in attack, with three goals and some inspirational tackles.
Lancaster’s defence wasn’t overworked and led by Phil Carroll and Nic McAuliffe in particular didn’t allow much through on the day.
The Wombats weren’t at top strength but hope to have more players returning over the next couple of weeks to prepare for a succession of tough games that will give coach Tom Davies and his players a better guide to where they stand.
After this Saturday when the Wombats host Longwood they have Shepparton East, Avenel, Merrigum, Murchison-Toolamba, Stanhope and Dookie United to contend with, so Davies said his team wasn’t not getting ahead of itself despite its positive start the season.
‘‘We’ll have a better idea of where we are at when we meet those sides who are potential finalists,’’ Davies said.
• Stanhope didn’t get it all is own way against a determined Rushworth in recording its first win for the season.
The Lions led from start to finish and won by 58 points but there were some heartening signs during the clash for the Tigers.
‘‘They put a lot of pressure on us and at times we dealt with it well and other times we didn’t,’’ Stanhope coach Mark Patten said.
Defender Josh Harris, onballer Ryan Semmel and ruckmen Dan Flynn and Matt Gill were key playmakers for the Lions while Tom Rennie, who kicked five goals, and Lachy West were busy forwards.
Harris was moved to the midfield in the last term with telling results when Rushworth was mounting a challenge.
New recruits in Tom Mckay, ruck goliath Matt Gilmore, Jack Butler and Brett Anderson stood up for Rushworth, who also had contributors in Joel May and Tom Stevens.
• In the other games Avenel had the better of Violet Town while in Sunday’s games Shepparton East smashed Undera by 204 points while Murchison-Toolamba disposed of Nagambie by 75 points.
Murchison-Toolamba was always in control against the Lakers, with Leigh Wellington, Mick Coad and Jay Hexter showing the way and getting good support from Josh Wild, Tom Kerrins, Trent Freer and James Lloyd, who kicked four goals.
Will Dalton, Mitch Lusted and Trent Laverie battled hard for the Lakers, who again fell down badly in attack.
Shepparton East kept Undera goalless for three quarters in their runaway win.
Rob Osborne with six goals and Ryan Pfieffer with five were able to finish of the work of Adam Fichera, Tom McCluskey, Zac Goombridge and Adam Barolli in the dominant win.