South Warrnambool coach Mat Battistello lauded his side's improved contest work after it earned a hard-fought 14-point win over rivals North Warrnambool Eagles on Saturday.
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The Roosters withstood a final quarter surge by the Eagles to hold on for a 7.8 (50) to 5.6 (36) win in the round seven Hampden league clash at Bushfield Recreation Reserve.
Battistello was thrilled for his side which sits at the head of the ladder with a six win, one loss record.
"I thought our young side did an extremely good job and we've still got seven players under 10 games, so to come out here and beat them on their home deck is a nice performance," he said.
The Roosters mentor previously highlighted the Roosters' "contested craft" as a deficiency in their round six loss to Terang Mortlake but said they rectified the issue against the Eagles.
"Our contested craft all around the ground was far better," he said.
"I felt like we halved a lot of contests that we didn't last week. We didn't play that bad last week. We lost by two goals but we had some pretty key learnings out of it.
"From a coaching perspective for those boys to then go and apply those learnings that was the most pleasing thing about today."
Battistello was pleased to see his side elevate its game at the Eagles' home ground, in what was a big occasion for the hosts.
The match was Eagles midfielder Matthew Wines' 300th game for the club, with Battistello labelling him "best on" despite the loss.
"We sort of felt like our execution with our ball movement and kicking pattern was pretty average to be truthful but we thought our contested work and our hunt was outstanding," Battistello said.
"So we felt like if we could match them in that regard (we would do well) because I'm sure Adam (Eagles coach Adam Dowie) would have sold that in Snooze's (Wines) 300th to make sure they bring that in that sort of a milestone game. For us to match it, I thought probably beat them in that regard, that was the most pleasing thing."
Ruck Ollie Bridgewater and Nick Thompson were influential for the Roosters, with Battistello describing the win as a "pretty consistent contribution across the board".
Dowie described the game as a "scrappy" affair but acknowledged that the Roosters were deserving of the victory.
"I think the result in terms of the scoreboard justified that South were probably a bit better. There were probably times where they looked a lot better," he said.
Boom forward recruit Nick Rodda (one goal) emerged unscathed in his return from injury for the Eagles however the side missed the presence of star ruck Nathan Vardy who was away.
The Eagles coach noted his opponents' superior depth, with the Roosters without star performers like Shannon Beks, Archie Stevens (VFL) and Will White (injury).
"Personnel wise, you look at all the players that they've still got out. The thing with them is, they've obviously got that quality, they can afford to have players go out and a player who's going to come in is still going to be pretty good," he said.
"Then they've got some guys just playing a role. They've obviously got experience on every line, they really talk, instruct really well, whereas we've still got a lot of young guys finding their way."
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