The Cats put the Demons to the sword in their most complete performance of the Warrnambool and District league season, running out 22.15 (147) to 5.5 (35) winners, with in-form key forward Robbie Hare ruling the show with 13 majors.

"It's the first time this year we've played four quarters of football - we got our running game going, everything we've been working on at training," Nowell said.

"We had a five-minute lapse in the first quarter, but it was good to play four quarters of football, the style of football we've been trying to play all year.

"We've put a lot of faith in these younger fellas, and they all stepped up which was just fantastic."

While Nowell was full of praise for his big key forward, who kicked 13.5 for the afternoon to go with eight against South Rovers and seven against Russells Creek in the two weeks previous, the Cats mentor said there was a lot to like from his youth.

"He's in very, very good form," Nowell said of Hare.

"But our younger fellas really stood up. Rhys Buck was great again. Young Taylan Jones, Kal Jans, Cooper Day was second best on, it was probably one of the best games of football I've seen him play.

"We saw some really positive signs."

The Cats mentor said the message to the group after the game was simple - to take belief in the direction the club is heading.

"One of the things I've been working on over the last eight, nine weeks is keeping the morale up, when you're losing it's never fun," he said.

"We're building this group up and giving them belief that if we play this brand of football and do it for four quarters they can be damaging.

"It was a step in the right direction - we've put a lot of focus on belief. We told the boys to enjoy it but when you rock up to training on Tuesday night, be focused."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.