The Kangaroos, without six of their best and most experienced players because of injuries and unavailability, posted a come-from-behind 24-point win against the Seagulls at Melville Oval to climb to fourth on the Hampden league ladder.

“I’m a little bit lucky as a coach: we have good depth of players, we have a strong reserves side,” Holt said after the 12.7 (79) to 7.13 (55) result.

“My message to the boys: it’s not about who’s playing or who’s not. If everyone plays their role and sticks together we have good enough players (to win). That team mentality seems to be working for us.”

With key defender Josh Meulendyks, midfielder Brendan Huf (hand) and forwards Ryan Newell and Tom Feely all missing from the side that defeated Portland eight days earlier, Holt was proud of the way his players responded after a slow start.

He was delighted with the performance of teenage first-gamer Daikin Morris up forward, with his pressure, and youngster Corey Jarrod on a wing, who has two more years in the under 18½s.

Port Fairy coach Brett Evans was unimpressed with his side’s final term after it had led by eight points at three-quarter time.

“Very disappointed,” he said.

“I thought our backline was brilliant all day. Our forward line:  it just didn’t work. That’s the second week in a row.

“I really felt for our back six. They were really well and hard all day and we just wasted opportunities. I didn’t think our forwards presented anywhere near the standard they should be.”

Evans said the Seagulls dropped off when they had a chance to win.

Meanwhile, Warrnambool paid a price for its 115-point thumping of Cobden on Saturday, losing two defenders to ankle injuries.

The Blues will sweat on the fitness of Liam Hoy and Sam Wilson after both were taken to hospital during the 22.18 (150) to 5.5 (35) result.

Hoy was cleared of any breaks and is unlikely to play against Portland on Saturday.

Compounding Warrnam-bool’s injury woes is news midfielder/small forward Jake O’Donnell has a foot in a moon boot.

Coach Scott Carter said O’Donnell, who didn’t play on Saturday, would be sidelined for at least the next two weeks.

He said midfielder Damien McCorkell, who also missed Saturday’s victory, should be available for the Portland game after recovering from a knee complaint.

Carter said the Blues were pleased with the win against Cobden, achieving it with just one player on the bench for most of the second half.

“It was a good effort — a good four-quarter effort,” he said. “Our defenders were really good. Defensively we defended really well over the ground and they only had 10 scoring shots for the day.”

He said wingman Brendan Moore and key forward Sam Cowling, in their 100th games with the club, were best afield. Moore kicked a career-high four goals while Cowling was again impressive across half-forward with his customary strong marking.

Travis Graham kicked 7.6 and midfielder Tim McIntyre 5.5 for the second consecutive week.

Carter said wingman/small forward Jye Turland and Nick Chirnside — in a different role as a midfielder — were also impressive.

He said Chirnside, who had a knee reconstruction and missed much of the 2013 season, had produced his best game for “two years”, in another positive.

Cobden co-coach Wayne Robertson was upbeat despite the size of the loss, saying he and the club were realistic with its young list.

He said the death of a young Otway Districts’ footballer had put the result in focus with forward Chris Paatsch leaving the game at three-quarter time after being told of the tragedy.

Paatsch, a former Otway Districts player, received the news during the final change that one of his close mates Aaron Mahoney had died. Robertson and the Bombers supported his decision to leave the game.

“Our supporters can see a glimmer of hope. There were some passages of play where we moved it very, very well. We had 10 under 18 players,” Robertson said.

“I hope we learn from this game. I told the boys after the game I hope they admire Warrnambool and their foot skills and body size but they didn’t get those attributes and skills from training Tuesday and Thursday nights every week. We can be like Warrnambool if we work hard.”

Robertson said that apart from a couple of skill errors he was pleased with his players’ efforts.

“To have 10 under 18 players in a side is probably unheard of,” he said.

“Our players were the best they could be.”