A nasty arm injury to defender Nick Bourke in the dying moments further soured an 11-point defeat to Nirranda.

The dislocated elbow came after young midfielders Nick Hoare and Henry Kenna went down with ankle complaints before half-time.

Kolora-Noorat coach Ben Walsh was unsure how long the trio would spend on the sidelines.

Nirranda, who was also wounded after losing Dylan Lees to concussion and John Paulin to a hamstring in the first half, produced a gutsy effort to see off a late Power surge.

The victory announced the Blues - who are still missing forwards Jack Primmer and Jesse Dalton as well as outside midfielder James Willsher - as a genuine flag contender.

Blues coach Brayden Harkness said the result "set us up for the rest of the year".

"We've got a huge amount of respect for them, the way the run their club and them as a side," he said.

"To get that win, sets us up for the rest of the year. We've still got to play them away so we won't get too carried away with it.

"That will give us a bit of a leg-up now in what is a long season."

Harkness said straight kicking, particularly early, was a focus leading into the blockbuster.

"The last four competitive games that we've played, the 2019 grand final against them, we kicked two goals eight in the first quarter," he said.

"In round one we kicked zero (goals) and five (points) in the first quarter. Round two, against Allansford, we kicked eight goals (and) four (points) and had them put away.

"I reckon this past week (against Panmure) we were three goals and seven at quarter time.

"We've talked about how we had seven more scoring shots than Panmure in that quarter. If you put goals away (early), it can make a huge difference.

"(Kolora-Noorat) kicked five goals and one point in the first quarter to our three goals but in the second, we were able to put them away and it was a bit of an arm wrestle from there."

Walsh said he was proud of his side's endeavour and fight to remain in the game. The Power booted two goals late in the third term to reduce the margin to just 17 points at the final break.

"I don't think we've been defending well enough. We didn't defend well enough against Russells Creek either (in round three) and we probably got exposed there (against Nirranda)," he said.

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