The battered Blues had no rotations left at the final siren, with Will Jacobs (corkie), Martin van Rooy (hamstring) and Sam Cowling (soreness) all sidelined through injury.

And while the Seagulls, missing Dan Nicholson (tightness), Tom Sullivan (thigh), John Bell (unavailable) and Lochie Gunning (groin), rediscovered their mojo late in the game, they couldn't make the most of their territory dominance in the final term, with just 2.7 to show for it.

Warrnambool players sang the team song with a modest level of enthusiasm, but coach Matt O'Brien said the 13.11 (89) to 8.12 (60) victory would be crucial later in the season and was by no means taken for granted.

"Port Fairy would have had the last five scoring shots and that can sometimes take the wind out of your sails coming off the ground," he said.

"But we put a lot of work into this game with our match-ups and how we might control things, so deep down we're really happy with the win, because they're a great side."

A scrappy opening stanza saw just three goals registered by first the break, with the defensive units from both sides almost impregnable.

But the Blues took a 15-point lead into half-time after they gained the upper hand around stoppages and lifted their work rate, exemplified by a goal-saving smother by Jordan Foott, who O'Brien threw back into defence.

"Every team works hard to get the 'one-percenters' right so when you see a run-down tackle or smother that stops a goal, it just lifts everyone and provides that reward for effort," the Blues mentor said.

Warrnambool then monstered Port Fairy in the third term, with the game effectively won and lost after Jackson Bell kicked truly at the 29-minute mark to make it six goals to two for the quarter.

O'Brien highlighted work done by Alex Shipard, Wil Fleming, Damien McCorkell, Tom Ludeman and Jye Turland for his own side, but singled out defender/ruckman Matt Sully as Port Fairy's most damaging player.

"Sully was terrific, especially in that last quarter - we just couldn't get past him," O'Brien said.

"He might have had 10 to 15 possessions from marking and crumbing, and his delivery was excellent."

Port Fairy playing-coach Dan Nicholson also praised Sully for restricting Warrnambool scoring machine Darren Ewing to his second-lowest output (two goals) for the year, but said Colin Harwood was his side's standout performer.

"Cole was our best by far today," Nicholson said. "He used the ball really well, intercept marked and was probably the only one to put four quarters together."

The Seagulls mentor said the loss was caused by an "accumulation of things".

"Our skills were very poor this week and we missed a lot of simple kicks and handballs," Nicholson said.

"Finally in that last quarter we started to play our brand of football and our structures and we know they stack up when we play them, but we just went away from them today.

"So we'll strip things right back at training this week."

And while Port Fairy players proudly donned black armbands to commemorate Kevin Cole, one of the club's last remaining 1958 premiership players, who died on Monday, Nicholson said his charges didn't need any extra motivation to end the club's 61-year flag drought.

"Don't worry, we get reminded about it nearly on a weekly basis," he said.

"Those guys are the last ones left who were part of the major success of this football club, so it is a big deal, but at the same time we've got to keep an eye on the future and go from there."

Nicholson said he would return next week, along with Sullivan, Bell and Gunning.

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