The Rebels led by 37 points mid-way through the second quarter before slowly being reined back in. A sustained charge from Eastern Ranges fell just short with the Rebels winning 15.9. (99) to 14.7. (91). Koroit’s Willem Drew was a star for the Rebels with 22 possessions while South Warrnambool key forward Shannon Beks kicked two goals and took five marks.

Portland’s Jamaine Jones followed up his best-on-ground performance for the Hampden interleague team with another classy display, gathering 16 touches.

North Ballarat Rebels coach Gerard Fitzgerald was happy with the win but said improvement is still needed.

“It was a good solid win but we did lose our way defensively in the second half,” Fitzgerald said.

“We learnt some lessons from the game, it was a team defence thing that let us down. The opposition took 67 marks for the game and 44 of them came in the second half. That meant they had too much uncontested ball which created a good flow into their forward line. We won the centre clearances in the first half and finished square in the second. The problem was the clearances we didn’t get were quality ones for the opposition.”