North Warrnambool Eagles improve record to 13 wins and a draw

The Eagles' game style stacked up on the big ground on Saturday, producing a 14.13 (97) to 10.5 (65) victory against top-three outfit Warrnambool.

Eagles coach Adam Dowie said his players, more accustomed to the smaller Bushfield deck, relished the chance to play at the ground used each season for the Hampden league grand final.

"You never know fitness-wise if training on a smaller ground is going to have an impact and how playing on a bigger ground is going to affect our structure," he said post-game.

"But I think that's probably the best we've played for the year and I thought the big ground suited us.

"In terms of any fears about the size of the ground and the fact it's a little bit harder, I thought we ran the game out really well.

"There was enough to go 'yeah we'd probably enjoy playing here a bit more'."

Warrnambool took a two-point lead into half-time despite the Eagles having three more scoring shots.

The visitors made the most of their momentum in the third term, kicking five goals to one to storm to a 25-point lead at the final break.

The Blues piled on three goals in four minutes to put a scare through the Eagles' camp in the fourth quarter before they steadied.

Much has been made of the Eagles' recruits but its younger cohort - Jett Bermingham, Jackson Couch, Jackson Grundy and Bailey Jenkinson - were impressive.

"It's a pretty young side. I think our average age is 23," Dowie said.

The Eagles, who played Billie Smedts who was named as an out on Thursday night, used Joe McKinnon in attack.

He played on Blues spearhead Darren Ewing earlier this season. This time the task went to Sam Doukas, who was a late inclusion for Mitch Bowman.

"We had to roll the dice but the good thing is Sam is pretty laconic and wouldn't have spent too much time worrying about that," Dowie said.

"I thought Sam did a really good job on him."

The defeat left Warrnambool coach Matt O'Brien "to do some soul-searching".

"They defended really well and their forward line was open and creative and they created shots and thank god they didn't kick straight because it would've been ugly at half-time," he said.

"In some ways, it's probably good it didn't finish like last week (against Koroit) as a close, courageous loss.

"It is really is gloomy in there (the change rooms). It was a real eye-opener for us and it exposed a lot of holes in individuals, our systems.

"We'll have to do some soul-searching. The only positive really is it's July not September.

"I think it was little things. We had pretty poor execution at times and our defensive skills were two metres off or a split second off rather than be proactive, we were reactive to their running."

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.