The Eagles dismantled the Bloods, winning 23.28 (166) to 2.5 (17) on Saturday.

"They are undermanned at the moment but you can only do what you can do," he said.

"The forward line looked dangerous but it came off the back of our midfield. We've been working there in terms of connection. I felt we had a lot of little things right, more from a structure point of view."

Nathan Vardy kicked eight goals, Scott Morter five and Felix Jones five too as the Eagles' attack ran riot.

"It is reward for effort. They both (Morter and Jones) know defending is just as important as the scoreboard," Dowie said.

"Their front-and-centre work was good. The ball was coming in pretty hot so they were able to get on the end of it."

Dylan Parish and Tom Keast missed with injury while Tom Batten, Bailey Jenkinson, Jackson Grundy and Billie Smedts returned to bolster the line-up.

Terang Mortlake coach Ben Kenna said injuries to key players in the previous round, including Joe Arundell and Darcy Hobbs, hurt as the side "isn't batting deep enough".

"It's hard to push sides when we have six or seven of our best dozen out, it's killing us to be honest," he said.

"Stronger clubs can cover that to a point I suppose but we are battling having senior players missing in a young side.

"The boys try and put in and we showed some patches of play in five or 10-minute periods and we could hold North up at different times but it was hard to maintain the level of pressure that was required and a stronger, more seasoned side that probably had superior fitness could execute what they wanted to do."

Kenna praised the Eagles for their four-quarter performance.

"North played really well and they probably had a bit to play for based on their past few weeks and wanted to turn things around a bit and they definitely did that in the way they played," he said.

The Eagles - considered a hot premiership favourite entering the Hampden league season - is now 3-3.

Their next opponent, South Warrnambool, sits atop the ladder undefeated with six wins.

The Bloods (1-5) play undefeated Portland next weekend.

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