BELOW their best and through adversity, North Warrnambool Eagles produced a gutsy performance to defeat South Warrnambool and move within striking distance of the top three.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Eagles, shaken by a accident that left player Adam Wines in a “serious way” on Friday night, dug deep to defeat the Hampden league’s third-placed side 17.13 (115) to 7.8 (50) at Friendly Societies’ Park.
North Warrnambool co-coach Graeme Twaddle lauded the mental fortitude of Wines’ brothers Matt and Luke, who took to the field on Saturday and were among the Eagles’ best.
“They way they’ve responded … they showed great mental fortitude,” Twaddle said.
“The four points weren’t the most important thing. it was about coming together.”
Twaddle said the Eagles “didn’t play our best footy”, but nevertheless the visitors had powered to a five-goals-to-one lead at the first break.
A tight second term saw the Roosters chip two points out of the deficit to go into half-time 24 points in arrears, but the Eagles lifted the pace in the second half.
They booted six goals to two in the third term and five to three in the last to walk away 64-point winners.
Joe and Sam McKinnon finished with four goals apiece to lead a list of nine Eagles goalkickers. Roosters’ best afield James Hussey finished with three majors.
“It was an even contribution across the board,” Twaddle said. “It was difficult conditions for both teams (with the wind) – I don’t think our execution was at the level it should’ve been.”
The win was the Eagles’ third in a row and seventh from their past eight starts as they make a genuine challenge for the top three, of which they sit just one win outside.
The Eagles’ winning run started in the wake of a thumping at the hands of next week’s opponents Port Fairy – following a fourth-quarter fadeout – and Twaddle said his charges were keen for another crack at the Seagulls.
The Roosters were left searching for answers after their third consecutive defeat.
South Warrnambool coach Mathew Buck labelled the performance as “certainly well below our best”.
“It was pretty disappointing, to be honest,” he said. “I think we’ve got to work a little bit harder.
“We held a pretty high level for a while – we obviously had a great start to the season.
“How do we work back?
“That’ll be our mantra for the next five or six weeks leading in to finals: we’ve got to lift our work rate.”
Buck said there were positives to take out of the game, including the exciting debut of 16-year-old Cooper Atchison and the game of Peter Doukas, who stepped up from the reserves.