KOROIT coach Chris McLaren is under no illusions about what his side needs to do in Saturday's match with fierce rival Warrnambool - improve.
The Saints coach was pleased with his side's 122-point win over Port Fairy at Victoria Park on Saturday but said his players needed to take their game to a higher level to match the Blues. "We have got a lot of work to do still," McLaren said after the 23.24 (162) to 6.4 (40) result.
"Some areas were real good and others wouldn't cut it against Warrnambool.
"We turned the ball over a little bit. It did hurt us today but it will hurt even more against a side like Warrnambool."
McLaren admitted his focus had shifted to the Warrnambool game in preparation for Saturday's opener against Port Fairy.
"We didn't take them lightly but it was important we played some good footy before Warrnambool.
"Everyone was writing Port Fairy off but they had a good crack, they tried their guts out. They are quite a young side. Our average age in our team was 21. We were a smidgen older than them. We had two 16-year-olds and four under 18s."
Saints midfielder Ben Goodall was best-on-ground, kicking five goals along with his quality possessions, while Joe McLaren also kicked five after being dominant early .
McLaren said debutant Seamus Blake would remember his first senior game for the wrong reason, suffering a severe corked thigh in the opening two minutes, which ended his day.
Port Fairy coach Bernie Harris believed his side played well in patches.
"But we just made too many mistakes early on in the game which cost us goals," he said.
grbest@standard.fairfax.com.au
