O’Brien said that the Blues were starting to become more consistent as each week passes.

“We are playing more predicable footy and most of the players know where their teammates are going to place the ball and they are getting numbers there,” O’Brien said after the 5.10 (40) to 2.15 (27) victory over South Warrnambool under lights at Friendly Societies Park.

“That’s something that has really worked over the last few weeks.”

O’Brien said his side would take belief out of the win against the highly-fancied Roosters side as they prepare for tough games against the teams above them in Portland, Camperdown, Port Fairy and Terang Mortlake.

“We will take a fair bit of confidence in that they (South) are a very good side and we matched them all night and beat them on the scoreboard,” he said.

“In the last quarter when the game was there to be won we hung in there and we were able to kick some goals rather than defending a lead.”

O’Brien said his team played good wet weather football in the cold and terrible conditions at Friendlies, but lamented a few lapses in concentration.

“I felt that we tackled well and we didn’t give away many soft free kicks because we were able to get down low and really attack the body hard,” he said.

“On a wet day you aim to get a lot of tackles, but I think our tackling was pretty disciplined. But we did give away a few 50-metre penalties, which can be costly on a wet night.”

The Blues’ first-year coach thought his side also used the ball well.

“We played quite defensively with the footy and didn’t turn it over in the middle of the ground,” he said.

“That was important because when we had the footy we used it well and we were quite conservative with our ball use.” 

The downside for the Roosters, who manged just two goals from 17 scoring shots, in their loss to the Blues was that a gap had now opened up between them and third-placed Port Fairy, who defeated Portland.

The one upside though was Koroit’s victory over Terang Mortlake has kept the Bloods at bay and ensured the Mat Buck-led side still held onto fourth spot.

The Roosters will be hoping to hit the reset button in preparation for matches against an improving Hamilton Kangaroos fresh off a two-game winning streak.

They then host an injury-plagued Cobden and a Good Friday rematch against Koroit before traveling to Portland’s Hanlon Park for a date with the Tigers.