It was at that moment the six-time Hampden league premiership coach saw the respect the rest of the competition had for the long-serving Eagle.

The gesture also resonated with Dowie because of his desire to see his club respected again coming to fruition in his first season at the helm.

The Eagles remain undefeated on top of the ladder with eight wins and a draw after holding off a fast-finishing South Warrnambool in a tight 9.10 (64) to 8.9 (57) win.

"You've got to be doing things the right way," Dowie said after the win.

"The first thing I said to the boys was for South Warrnambool to stand there and form that little guard of honour for 'Snooze' (Wines), I thought that was classy and that's how you earn respect.

"That is one of the things we spoke about at the start of the year as I still believe there is a right way to play. I don't believe in 'win at all costs' and we're going to win and lose and hopefully we are doing it the right way.

"If you do that it's funny what happens as good things will happen to good people and we are about earning respect."

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Dowie praised the Roosters' fighting spirit and said they were a capable top-five side under first-year mentor Mat Battistello.

"I have a lot of admiration for South and they are playing differently to a lot of other sides and it's working for them," he said.

"It's just a matter of sustainability but in saying that they have been in every game.

"There were times today I thought we were in control but because they don't leak on the scoreboard they're always in the game.

"They can beat anyone in the top five and so can we."

South Warrnambool lost no fans with how it played out the game after only kicking one goal in the opening hour of play.

Its seven-goal to three second half almost saw it escape back-to-back seven-point defeats - the first coming a week ago against second-placed Warrnambool.

But Battistello wants to see his side to improve its ball use if it is to be successful in toppling teams above it.

"We gave ourselves some really good looks at it (at goal) and missed some opportunities that you would hope we would kick next time," he said.

"You straighten up that aspect and it was probably a similar story last week so hopefully it doesn't become a habit or trend."

The Roosters got through relatively unscathed with only Sam Thompson suffering an ankle injury during the game.

He managed to run out the match but is expected to miss next week's game against Port Fairy

But Battistello said the Roosters would be bolstered by a number of returns in the coming weeks.

"Depending on what the (Greater Western Victoria) Rebels' program does we will have some ins and outs there," he said.

"But we are certainly nowhere near our most settled side and another six changes seems to be common practice here at the moment.

"Tim Brown probably could have come up today, Hamish Gurry isn't far away, Sam Kelly is a couple of weeks away, Tait Niddrie came back through our first game (reserves) so some of those players are starting to filter back."

Battistello said he was excited about the return of Jock Blair, who was named in the best in his first game back from a wrist injury he sustained in the Good Friday defeat to Koroit.

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