While playing coach Chris McLaren acknowledged greater consistency of effort from his playing group after Saturday’s 11.8 (74) to 5.10 (40) victory against Camperdown on a gloomy afternoon at Victoria Park with a wicked cross-breeze, he is conscious of the reality the second-placed Saints are yet to beat the Blues (third), Roosters (first) or Bloods (fourth).

“Although we were pretty good today we probably need to be better to beat those teams,” McLaren said.

The Saints also took an important step towards rectifying their home-ground record with Saturday’s victory, their third in succession against sides outside or just inside the five.

They were pushed by North Warrnambool Eagles at Victoria Park in round two before losing to Warrnambool (round five), Terang Mortlake (round seven) and drawing with Cobden (round eight).

As well as playing a side fighting to stay in touch with the top five, Koroit brought other motivational tools to its round 11 home assignment.

The 200th appearance of defender Karl Dwyer and the return of triple premiership player Andrew Paton added a sense of occasion to the contest.

Camperdown brought its own mid-season “recruit” to the game in power forward Luke Molan but it was Paton who made the greater impact after more than 18 months out of the game.

Lining up at full-forward, he kicked an early goal to capitalise on a bright start by the home side before Camperdown worked into the contest with two late goals for a 2.4 to 2.1 lead at quarter-time.

The Magpies threatened an upset when key forward Grant Place kicked the first goal of the second term but their inability to deliver the ball accurately to forward targets was punished with some flowing counter-thrusts from Koroit.

With onballers Ben Goodall, Simon O’Keefe and Joe McLaren pushing into defence to link from the half-back line, the Saints were able to exploit their quality execution and overlap to find a path through the opposition’s forward press.

Goodall steadied his side with a running goal at the five-minute mark before successive goals from Paton at the seven and 14-minute marks.

The second carried a high degree of difficulty, coming at the High Street end of the ground from a set shot on a tight angle in the right forward pocket.

It edged Koroit ahead 5.4 to 3.6, a platform from which it delivered the KO blow with four unanswered third-term goals.

Paton added another two for a game total of five before Goodall iced the four points at the 23-minute mark when he pushed forward after a centre clearance to become the outlet option off a contest at half-forward, converting with clinical precision on the run.