Saints mentor Chris McLaren said the Blues made them earn the 13.12 (90) to 10.7 (67) victory in a hard-fought contested game. But he said that the scare gave them a chance to highlight that the ship was still on the right course.

“A game like this tests your structures, your concentration, your set-ups and all that sort of stuff when you’re under pressure,” McLaren said.

“It’s all good and well to have systems in place and do everything right when you’re winning comfortably, but it’s more important to be doing things really well when you’re under pressure.

“We learn more from these types of games and we were lucky to get away with the win in the end, because Warrnambool were really good.”

Jarrod Korewha continued his fine form with another bag of five goals.

Matt O’Brien thought Warrnambool won the midfield battle for most of the day against the Saints and he hopes that effort will continue into the Blues’ next match. 

“We probably won the battle across the first three quarters of the game, but they were able to get of the middle when it counted in the last quarter,” O’Brien said.

“We just want to bring the same intensity and same attitude next weekend against South.”