After a tough past few matches with losses against Nirranda and Panmure, the Creekers jumped into fifth on the Warrnambool and District league table, displacing Allansford in the process after running away with the game late, 10.12 (72) to 7.13 (55) in one of the games of the season.

Gritty, relentless and with plenty of heart, it was the Creekers at their best and at a time where they really needed it.

Creekers co-coach Dylan Herbertson said after reassessing not only the way they play but the attitudes of the players it was a performance to be proud of.

"We went away with how we wanted to play I think," he told The Standard of the recent losses. "We were open and honest this week and it was more about getting back to the way we wanted to play, backing each other in and playing team orientated footy.

"We don't care who gets the touches, who kicks the goals as long as we're up and about.

"To their credit, they responded and grinded one out and hopefully we can build from that. It's character building."

The hard-fought contest was virtually even all day with both teams cracking in hard and barely giving an inch, with the scores level in the final term before Creek got on a run and snared the final three majors of the match.

Recruit Seamus Brady was a particular standout late in the game with some searing runs and important touches while Tom Smith (three goals) and defender Dylan Burns played huge roles.

"Seamus isn't big in stature but he has a big heart, he's been an unbelievable recruit for us, " Herbertson said of the former Koroit player.

"He's not the loudest lad but he does things the way he needs to do things and he was massive late, just that extra grunt work was pleasing. As I said he's all heart and was huge.

"Taylem Wason was also great, Dylan Burns did a great job on big Robbie Hare and I think he did a good job. Robbie is a big man mountain but to nullify his influence was massive for us."

With several stars, including the likes of assistant coach Lachlan Edwards and Jyran Chatfield out of the team, Herbertson said wins like these are vital as they prepare to welcome back some troops.

"Like a lot of teams our casualty list is quite large but that's country footy I guess," he said.

"We knew it was an eight-point game and it was so important to get back to winning. It's been a tough few weeks and hopefully it'll give us the momentum, with a few boys to come back in, leading into the Merrivale game."

Allansford will be sweating on the results of a scan for star recruit Brad Bull, who went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury late in the first quarter with coach Tim Nowell confirming the severity was unknown at this stage.

The Cats mentor said his side just never got their game up and running.

"We didn't play as good as we could and that's it," he said. "To put my finger on what went wrong, I'd need a bit of time but we just didn't get the game going today."

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