The side withstood a final-quarter surge from the Lions to narrowly triumph 9.13 (67) to 9.6 (60), registering its third Warrnambool and District league win of the season and jumping above the Lions into seventh on the ladder.

The victory was the Dogs' first against the Lions since 2017, with interim coach Ben Thornton saying in previous years the side might have responded differently to the Lions' pressure in the fourth quarter.

The Lions kicked three goals in the final term to the Dogs' one.

"I guess in previous years we would have dropped our heads and they might have piled a couple on but we stuck strong, it was good," Thornton, who is filling in for Leigh Anderson while he is on holidays, said.

"I probably looked at it a bit that since I've been back at the club I haven't beaten South Rovers.

"It's probably something that we had to tick off and the last couple of years, I know they probably had a bit of a different team today compared to other years but they've probably done us by 100 points.

"To peel one back like that (against a team) that we haven't beaten for a while, it's good and it means a lot to the boys in there."

Teenage running defender Brandon Barton was the star of the show for the Dogs, earning himself best player honours while teammate Jack Noonan was impressive with three goals.

Thornton praised his side's intensity and lauded Barton for his performance which defied his age.

"We've been talking for a while about how to replace Luke Pearson when he moves on but the way Barto ran off that half-back line and really attacked the footy and spoiled and second efforts (was great)," he said.

"The back-line as a whole (was good) but individually him, I was real proud for a young lad like that to come out and play the game he did."

Lions coach Tim Condon was disappointed with the result but pleased with his side's first quarter and the way it finished the game.

"I think when they sort of shut us down, our ball movement, we struggled to re-group after that and they just got those surge numbers and hit the scoreboard," he said.

"We fixed a couple of things but we probably found a few holes we didn't know how to get out of at the same time."

Tim Ryan was prolific up forward for the Lions snagging five goals while Justin and Brent Fedley shone.

Logan King on debut "looked really good" according to Condon.

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