He urged his charges to come in tight at the three-quarter-time huddle, emphasising how close they were to snapping a six-year hoo-doo against Warrnambool at Reid Oval.

“Six years they’ve sent us away with our tail between our legs, six years since we’ve won on this ground,” Carse told his troops.

“The job’s not done, let’s get it done.”

Their 25-point lead was whittled down to 16 at the final siren but they had done as asked.

A drought was broken and belief, after two wins to start the Hampden league season, was rising.

“The boys have set themselves up with a good chance to start the season well,” Carse said.

“The ball movement and the way we’re setting up and attacking the footy has really come on across the summer.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in that 40-50 game bracket now that are really taking a step forward with the their footy.”

Camperdown and Warrnambool both had their moments in a game played at a frenetic pace between both forward 50 arcs.

They combined for just five goals to half-time but the low scoreline did not reflect the contest’s entertaining nature.

The Magpies were their own worst enemy, starting the match with a 0.5 first term and finishing with 8.16 on a day where wind was a non-factor.

Their opening term misses came when they were a player short owing to Luke Mahony’s stint on the bench with a yellow card.

“We’re probably still letting ourselves down a little bit with that last kick inside 50 and the actual finishing when we do get it,” Carse said.

“It’s probably two weeks in a row when we could have had a comfortable buffer against an opposition that we’ve let them back in, so that’s something we’ve really got to work on. But a lot of the processes we’re getting right, which is pleasing.”

Cameron Spence led the way for the Magpies with his drive and polished long kicking. His teammates shone too.

“I thought Fraser Lucas’ job on (Luke) Cody was terrific. He kept him quiet and got a lot of the footy himself,” Carse said.

“Nick Bateman gave us a really good target in the forward half and Isaac Stephens was good in that forward half as well.”

Warrnambool coach Matt O’Brien labelled the outcome disappointing as the Blues rued poor decision-making and skill errors.

“Too many times we had the ball and just kicked it clearly to the opposition, so that clearly cost us and other times we got our hands to the ball, particularly marking, and dropped what we should have held,” he said.

“Their transition was excellent but if we’re giving them the footy, it just gives them a chance to run and take advantage.”

O’Brien praised the Blues’ defence for its efforts in ensuring they were “within striking distance still” in the final term.

“Matty Colbert, Aaron Robertson, Tim O’Keeffe, Marty van Rooy and Jordy Foott, for his first game of the year, were excellent,” he said.

“The real positive for us was Mitch Burgess, a 16-year-old who had a lot of game time.”

Warrnambool in sweating on the severity of Bradley Bull’s leg injury.