North Warrnambool Eagles displayed both in accounting for Port Fairy at Gardens Oval yesterday.

The Eagles made it back-to-back wins to start the Hampden league season, defeating the persistent Seagulls 15.11 (101) to 11.12 (78) at Gardens Oval to set up an intriguing round three clash against reigning premier Koroit.

North Warrnambool Eagles will enter that game full of confidence after resisting multiple Port Fairy comebacks.

They led at every change, and by as much as 28 points near half-time before Seagulls duo Tyrone Bean and Robbie Hare trimmed the margin.

It was an even performance from the Eagles, underpinned by a strong midfield effort.

Clean ball use and smart decision-making going forward, which helped small forward Jarryd Lewis kick a game-high five goals, proved the difference.

Andy McMeel ignited the Eagles in the first quarter and fellow onballers Matthew Wines, Dean Gavin and Jye Bidmade, along with ruckman Jaymen Fletcher, followed suit.

The Eagles’ promising next generation — Sam McLachlan, Josh Corbett and Ben Fleming — all hit the scoreboard and former skipper Herb Barlow was steady in defence.

Port Fairy had its share of winners too. Rebounding defender Dylan Gunning displayed dash and creativity, recruit Coby Dudman showed glimpses, lead-up forward Sam McCartney presented well and defensive duo Mason Crosier and Colin Harwood were resolute.

The unheralded Crosier had the task of manning Eagles spearhead Dylan Parish and took the honours, keeping him to two goals. But the difference overall was class.

Both sides played with zip and a desire to move the ball quickly but the Eagles hit targets more often and chose the better option in attack.

North Warrnambool Eagles co-coach Graeme Twaddle was rapt with his charges’ ball use.

“We knew if we could get deep entries because we’ve got Parish down there and he presented well and certainly we have the luxury of Jordan Dillon sitting deep upset their balance a little bit (that it would help us),” he said.

“Fleming was good again crumbing, and Lewis too, and having Corbett back in the side today certainly helped us. He plays pretty tall for his size.”

Port Fairy coach Brett Evans rued the Seagulls’ poor second quarter.

“After that I thought it was a pretty even contest but we just couldn’t bridge that contest that they put on us in that second quarter,” he said of the 15-point half-time deficit.

“I thought we lacked in effort in the second quarter. I just think we weren’t committing hard enough to the contest and we were getting sucked in too at times.

“We weren’t looking after our direct opponents and they were getting it fed out to them and running.”

Evans praised the Seagulls’ defence but was disappointed with their forward line. 

Poor goal kicking also hurt the home side. It sprayed multiple gettable chances out on the full.

“To be honest, I thought some of our forwards really let us down today,” he said. “And I was disappointed with a lot of the ways we used the footy with hospital passes into the middle, which we don’t want to be doing. It’s too easy for them to read it. 

“There are a lot of things we can work with and it’s not all doom and gloom. It’s just one bad quarter and a few silly errors by foot.”

justine.mc@fairfaxmedia.com.au