The Tigers held on for a 15-point win against Dennington on Saturday, after struggling early to tame an eager Dogs outfit.

Trailing by 11 and six at the early breaks, a four-goal to one third quarter turned the tide back toward the Tigers, who drew even with the Dogs in the final quarter to secure the win.

"Credit to Dennington, they wanted the contest," Sobey said. "We spoke of preparation being interrupted a little bit this week, and that's going to be part of the year, and we've got to grow in that area.

"You've got to be prepared to bring the right attitude regardless of what that is, and have the right prep. I'm not sure we got that right this week."

The Tigers made several late changes heading into the game, though Sobey was pleased to see the game on their terms in the second half.

"We made some good adjustments at half time and started to hunt the ball and asked our leaders for a bit more and they did that pretty well," he said.

Todd McLean stepped up from the twos to be best afield for the Tigers, while Luke Byrne provided a spark up forward.

"(Todd) was brilliant," Sobey said. "He's been around a long time and quality player, he settled us in the back when we needed it."

Meanwhile Dennington showed it continues to make strides in the Warrnambool and District league competition, its 13-point loss miles away from a 174-point defeat to Merrivale last season.

Coach Ben Thornton said a lacklustre third quarter let the team down in the end.

"It put us behind the eight ball and we might have got our heads down a little bit," he said. "We dragged it back in the last quarter, but to come up against a side that like and really push it to them is pleasing.

"We came out ready to play in the first quarter but we've got a bit to work on, we can't fade out of games like we did."

Dennington's back line, led by Luke Pearson, stood tall under moments of barrage and forced the Tigers to take unfavourable shots on goal.

"Our back line played really well, (Merrivale) had a lot of inside 50s and they were able to push them out to the boundary lines for a lot of their marks," Thornton said.

Dennington ruck Reggie Barling suffered a knee concern late in game after hitting the ground, while froward Josh Stapleton hurt his shoulder in the second half. Thornton said both players would get those looked at this week.

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