The first-year mentor was disappointed with the Roosters’ efforts in their 15.11 (101) to 6.12 (48) loss to Port Fairy on Saturday. The defeat continued their horror form on the road – they’re now 1-7 away from home. 

“We spoke about making the most of our opportunities and to come in at 2.7 at half-time was proof we didn’t do that,” Buck said.

“They capitalised and we didn’t.”

Buck said South Warrnambool was a work in progress.

“It is all part of the learning curve. You’ve got to hang in games and make sure you don’t drop your bundle a little bit I suppose,” he said.

“We find that end of games and during games that if the other team gets momentum, we find it very hard to spot it.

“We’ll keep pointing it out and keep going through the video and watching the edits and talk about those kind of things. And we’ll train for it. You just don’t learn it over night I suppose, it takes a little while to learn how to defend properly. They’ve been so successful as juniors these blokes that defending is pretty foreign to them.”

The performance of defender Harry Lee, who spent time on Port Fairy stars Jackson Hollmer and Daniel Nicholson, pleased Buck.

“He is fantastic, Harry. He’s part of our leadership group and is a real learner,” he said.

“He is always asking questions and is one of those guys who goes out there and implements anything you tell him to.​”