The Lions lost Dom Bushell to a rolled ankle, Kevin Moloney with a broken nose and Fergus Torpy after a nasty head clash that will see him require some dental work, leaving them with no bench from five minutes into the second quarter.

It made a tough ask even more difficult as the Lions strove to overcome a plucky East Warrnambool, which lead for the first three quarters only for the home side to overrun it in the last for a 12.13 (85) to 20.12 (72) win.

The Bombers burst out of the blocks with 11 scoring shots to two in the opening term, but were only able to convert four majors.

But they led by a healthy 24 points at the first break, 20 points at half-time and 13 points at the final change, before South Rovers booted 5.5 to 1.3 in the last.

“Full credit to East, they jumped out of the blocks and put our players under immense pressure,” Lions coach Adam Matheson said.

“We started to play a little bit better about halfway through the third term. We just took some risks, because with the scoreboard the way it was, (earlier) we just went back into our shells and were too afraid to make mistakes.”

Matheson said six-goal hero Nathan Krepp was the difference between the teams, while Kerry Tarbolton also made a big impact across four quarters, playing through wing, in the ruck and forward.