The Cats had to scrap tooth-and-nail to overcome a determined and dogged Old Collegians at Davidson Oval in the round one Warrnambool and District league clash, eventually overcoming the Warriors with an unanswered five-goal final quarter to win 11.6 (72) to 6.7 (43).

Robert Hare was tremendous up forward, slotting six goals, while Zach Jamieson, Zavier Mungean and Cooper Day (two goals) contributed strongly.

Cats coach Tim Nowell said it was far from perfect - but he'd take it.

"We knew it'd be a tough contest and they'd come out hard. We all want to get the four points in the opening game," he told The Standard.

"I was a little disappointed with how we played our football in the first two quarters, we didn't have a nice fast running game going, we just slowed the play too much.

"Once we were able to get the momentum in the third quarter after a bit of a spray at half-time we did couple a few goals and put the pressure back on Collegians."

The Cats trailed by a point at half-time and scores were eventually level at three-quarter-time but the game was held up during the third with one of the club's young players, Aiden Gordon, suffering a nasty lower leg injury.

"We got the jump on them and after the injury we were probably in a bit of shock because of 'Gordo' and they came back at us," he said.

"I put the heat on the boys at three-quarter-time and told them they had a quarter to show me you want to be in this side."

Nowell said his side clicked into the gear in the last term playing "fast, attacking" football.

"We then went out and played a style we wanted to do all day and we overran them with fitness and our skills were sensational," he said.

"It's the brand of football we'd been searching for all day, and the brand we need to play.

"Credit to them, they fought hard and have some really good kids in their side like we do, but at the end of the day we played our style.

"I think in the end our fitness really showed."

The Warriors - in coach Ben van de Camp's first game - took plenty out of the contest, rolling out a young side with the likes of Tim Lewis, star recruit Mitch Riddell and Matthew Lenehan (four goals) all showing great signs.

But he said there was plenty of lessons to come out of the clash, including the midfield battle.

"From our point of view, they got on top in the clearances and we didn't get take quick enough to combat that," Van de Camp said.

"They had momentum and it went from there - they were fitter than us but it wasn't the key reason.

"It's now how we respond to those situations and what changes do we make on and off-field to combat that.

"Our ball movement was good though which was fantastic and our pressure was good, so we'll also concentrate on that, but there was some phases where we lacked momentum and concentration."

In the remaining match across the league on Saturday, finals fancy Merrivale flexed its muscles to run away with a 156-point win against the rebuilding Timboon Demons, 26.19 (175) to 2.7 (19).

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