Warrnambool Rangers women's side wins its first game since returning from recess

Coach Paul Braithwaite said the 5-1 triumph against Ballarat on the road on Sunday was reward for hard work after the team returned to the pitch at the start of the season following a three-year hiatus.

"It was awesome and we only had 11 (players), so no sub, and they had to work very hard but they got there," he said.

"I knew it was going to come. We played the top-three teams first and if you look at the ladder, they are way in front of everyone else and have been kicking big scores, and we were competitive against them compared to some of the teams.

"I knew that once we got into this block (of games), there was more opportunities to win some games. Hopefully we can get on a bit of a roll now... and get the confidence up when we play the top teams again later in the year."

Braithwaite, who was thrilled with the players' ability to implement plans from training, said the Rangers' improved fitness helped against Ballarat.

"It was 2-0 at half-time and they kicked the first goal of the second half," he said.

"They actually had 10 or 15 minutes of play and had a couple of shots so they could've levelled it up or got in front and our guys could've dropped their heads but we finished off with the last three goals and that was really impressive."

Tiegan Kavanagh - a recruit from the New South Wales' Central Coast - kicked three goals and Mercy Smith added one. Laura Mirtschin kicked a goal in her first game of the season too.

"She used to play with us a few years ago and she now lives in Horsham and she's just going to be playing Ballarat away games for us," Braithwaite said.

"She was brilliant."

Warrnambool Rangers men's side also returned to the winners' list following two consecutive defeats.

Coach Cameron Pyke said they recorded a comfortable 9-0 win against Ballarat.

"It allowed us to work on a few things we'd identified we needed to improve on, like things with our ball movement and linking up our midfielders to our forwards," he said.

"We'd identified from the North United and Sebastopol games that we had some breakdowns where we couldn't get the ball out of our defence and transition into attack.

"On the weekend we were able to put plans into place to make it a bit easier for us. It did help that Ballarat, unfortunately, aren't as competitive as some of the other teams but you can only face who is in front of you."

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