North Warrnambool forward Dion Johnstone says staying the course is paying off for his group

He says the club's stirring win against previously unbeaten South on Saturday was a result of focusing on areas that needed improvement.

Johnstone revealed he felt there was pressure on the club ahead of the season surrounding the calibre of its recruits, including former AFL ruck Nathan Vardy.

"It was a massive win for us, we were 3-3 going into it," Johnstone said. "We didn't start (the season) the way we wanted, but we just kept focusing on what we pride ourselves on. Just slowly chipping back into it and it showed (Saturday)."

The Eagles' losses are hardly catastrophic, losing to the league's top two sides' Portland and Koroit by a combined eight points, as well as top five side Warrnambool by 15.

"We were only just off in those previous games," Johnstone said. "We always knew we could play that footy, and (Saturday) just gives the players the confidence that we can play at that high level against these better sides."

Johnstone, who is averaging a goal a game, said spending more time on the training track as a group was paying off.

"It's starting to look a bit better," he said. "We had a bit of a interrupted pre-season with some of the Wines boys up in Darwin. We really didn't get to train fully together as a team. We've starting building back into that. Nathan (Vardy), he's huge for us and he's very bubbly at training and gets the boys up and about which is great."

The Eagles travel to Cobden in round eight.

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