Koroit coach Adam Dowie thinks so after his side was outplayed by fierce rival Warrnambool in Saturday’s grand final rematch.

The Saints entered the game as favourites having defeated the Blues in last year’s grand final by 16 points and picking up a number of quality recruits over summer. 

With the Blues resigned to being without key forward Jason Rowan for the season after he suffered a knee injury in a practice match, Koroit started the first game of the new season at home as the competition benchmark.

But after Warrnambool kept Koroit goalless until the 22nd minute of the third term as it scored a 31-point victory, Dowie was forthright on which team is setting the standard.

“It looked like they had a bit more to play for for whatever reason that was,” Dowie said after the 7.14 (56) to 3.7 (25) result.

“We go in next time as the underdog. All for one game last year (the grand final) Warrnambool was a six-goal better side. 

“It’s been very interesting people have been going we’re warm favourites. Maybe the pecking order is back where it should be ... Warrnambool is the benchmark.”

Interim Blues skipper Sam Cowling won what turned out to be a crucial coin toss and kicked with the aid of a westerly wind gusted up to 46km/h in the opening term. 

The Blues, with Travis Graham playing at full-forward in place of Rowan, and a rampant Tim McIntyre in the midfield, kicked 4.5 to 0.2 in the first quarter. 

Graham and Kurt Lenehan had each kicked goals in the first nine minutes before rain was swept down the ground by the howling wind.

Koroit’s only two scores were rushed behinds as the Blues looked the more dangerous side.

The wind switched to the south-west in the second term and dropped, reducing the advantage to the eastern-end goal. 

In a goalless quarter, Warrnambool outworked Koroit, having 10 inside forward 50 entries to six as it took a 25-point lead into half-time.

After midfielder Brendan Moore and Graham goaled in the first nine minutes of the third term, Warrnambool’s lead was out to 38 points and the result was beyond doubt in the wet conditions.

McIntyre, a high-profile recruit from South Australia where he played one game for the Adelaide Crows, was best afield. 

The 26-year-old racked up possessions in the midfield, driving the Blues into attack as well as looking dangerous as a lead-up forward. 

McIntyre copped a heavy knock to the head in the third term and after the game was dazed.

He was delighted his first game with the Blues ended on a winning note.

“It was always going to be a slog once it started raining and you just had to play the basic team football in the wet and surge it forward and get numbers around the ball which the boys did,” he said.

“It was a really hard-fought slog. We played well. The boys ran the game out well.”

Jackson Bell was also impressive for the Blues in the midfield, while Koroit was best served by Ben Dobson in his first game back with the club after a season in Geelong. 

He played loose across half-back, in the midfield and up forward as he tried to lift his side.

The Saints have a couple of injury concerns.

Two-time Maskell Medal winner Simon O’Keefe suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter and ruled him out for the rest of the game. James North, another player returning to the club, suffered a corked calf, also in the third term, and didn’t return to the field, leaving the Saints with just one player on the bench for most of the second half.