But against Timboon Demons, South Rovers looked anything but new or incomplete.

Adam Matheson’s men booted 10.11 (76) to 7.13 (55) to record their third-successive triumph on Saturday.

“It’s been pleasing because we’ve had the 12 new guys come into the team, and we probably thought it would take a little bit longer to gel,” he said.

“We’re playing some good footy early in the season. We’re still hoping there’s a bit of improvement left in our team. But we’re just pleased to be on the right side of wins and losses at this point.”

Timboon Demons were clinical in the first term, using nine scoring shots and a swathe of forward entries to break out to a 16-point lead.

Matheson identified stoppage work as Timboon’s strength and put measures in place to prevent dominance.

“I think we had 90 tackles for the day and 60 or 70 of those would have been around the stoppages,” he said.

“I think after quarter time we lifted our intensity around the stoppages and also when we got the ball forward, we lifted our intensity there.”

Matheson, a second-year South Rovers mentor who coached Timboon Demons to the 2008 Warrnambool and District league flag, was adamant his men had more to show.

“They’re still figuring how each other plays and our forward leading patterns and all of that,” he said.

“We’d like to think with such a young group, improvement is still to come.”

Defender Tate Gardiner was Rovers’ only injury concern.