The Roosters drew 39-all with second-placed North Warrnambool Eagles on Saturday in what was a drastic turnaround from the last time the teams met.

Back in round four, the Eagles had a thumping 38-goal win.

But the ever-improving Roosters showed how much ground they have made up in the past 10 weeks to test the Eagles at Friendly Societies’ Park.

The visitors were rattled by a serious leg injury to Skye Billings in the second quarter, but rallied to salvage a draw after they had trailed by margins of two, four and three goals respectively at the ends of the first three quarters.

But Keath said while it wasn’t the Roosters’ best perfomance of the year, it was heartening to see the young side again match it with a top team.

“We were pleased and happy with how we went and the girls fought hard,” she said.

“It’s exciting to know we can take it to the top teams and hopefully that leads to more wins.”

Keath said having another tall in defence in experienced netballer Maddy White – who played her first full game for the Roosters – was a great help.

Roosters coach Mandy Van Rooy was thrilled with her charges’ efforts across four quarters.

“I was extremely proud of the girls’ performance,” she said. “It was really good netball from both sides – we did have a couple of opportunities that we probably let go, but we’re a young side: we’ll learn from that.”