It was the first time all season the Lions have beaten one of the current top five, and while finals are ruled out realistically – if not mathematically – they will be gunning for a couple more upset wins when they take on Merrivale and Old Collegians in the final fortnight.

Lions coach Nathan Isles described Saturday’s gutsy 10.12 (72) to 7.17 (59) away win over the then second-placed Power as “probably the best win I’ve been part of in my time at the club”.

“We were confident that we’d put up a better show than we did last time we played them,” he said.

“But obviously playing out here is always tough. We wanted to be competitive, but that’s just a huge bonus.

“We haven’t beaten anyone above us, so just to tick that off the list is really good.”

Kolora-Noorat struggled to make the most of a five-goal breeze favouring the southern end of the ground in the first quarter, putting through 2.6 to 2.2.

The home side could manage just one behind for the second term, while the Lions booted 3.5 to take a three-goal lead into half-time.

The Power duly responded in the third quarter, booting 5.7 to head into the last term needing to defend a 19-point lead. They had to do so kicking towards a northern end that had only seen two goals all match.

The Lions kicked two early behinds, before a lead-up mark and goal from Nathan Krepp got them within 10 points.

A near identical mark and goal from Nathan Murphy after South Rovers won the centre clearance narrowed the gap again, and before the Power could catch its breath, the Lions were up.

They built on the lead, conceding just three behinds while almost doubling their own score with 5.5 for the term.

“We said both in the first quarter and the third, if we came in anything under four goals (down), we gave ourselves that chance,” Isles said.

“We had a lot of young kids in the side; they played their part. No one really had a really down day and every time anyone had to do something, they just came up with it.”

Kolora-Noorat coach Danny Finn said while his side had its chances in the last quarter, South Rovers deserved the win.

“They outplayed us and outworked us,” he said.

“I think we tried to defend (against the breeze) and we did a reasonable job.

“We had our chance to win the game, but it would’ve been stealing it a little bit, because probably for most of the day they outplayed us.”

The Power were without a host of stars for the clash, but expect most back for next week’s match against Russells Creek.