NORTH Warrnambool Eagles is heading into a season-defining bout with high-flying Cobden full of swagger.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The beaten grand finalist withstood a late onslaught from Terang Mortlake on Saturday to notch a 12.8 (80) to 10.7 (67) triumph on Saturday.
Delighted mentor Graeme Twaddle hailed his team’s resilience.
“It felt like a game of two halves, a little bit,” he said.
“The pleasing thing for us was that they had all the momentum going into the final quarter, but we were able to wrestle it back.
“Of the four wins we’ve had, we’ve probably had fairly comprehensive margins. When we were challenged, we were able to respond and that’s character building.”
Twaddle said it was vital for his young side to produce consistency across the board if it was to beat Cobden next week.
“We never felt out of the game last time we played them, but at that stage we weren’t playing our best footy,” he said.
“We’ll need to bring our strength all over the ground.”
Terang Mortlake coach Michael Sargeant rated the Bloods’ third term as their best of the season.
“We got cleaner around the stoppages and with our hands and didn’t fumble it,” he said.
“Our running game got going and it was hard for them to stop.
“Ben Finnerty, who is normally key position, we chucked him in the middle and it freed us up a little bit.”
Sargeant conceded an error-riddled first half forced the Bloods to play catch up.