South Warrnambool downs Portland, enters halfway mark with 8-1 win-loss record

He credits the team-first attitude for the Roosters' impressive form line at the halfway mark of the Hampden league season.

The Roosters' 14.8 (92) to 4.3 (27) victory against fellow top-five side Portland at Hanlon Park on Saturday improved its win-loss ledger to 8-1.

"I was really happy for the boys, they played extremely well all day and you never think it was going to be an easy road trip over there, the way they're playing, so it was nice to tick it off and move into the second half of the year," Battistello said.

"It's not so much about the win-loss ratio, it's about the way you're playing and I feel like we're improving.

"Yesterday was one of our better four-quarter performances but we still have plenty of scope for improvement and hopefully in the back half of the year we'll welcome some players back as well."

South Warrnambool has prided itself on its ability to shut teams' offence down.

The Roosters have averaged 43 points a game against across their first nine matches, the outlier being 83 in their only loss to North Warrnambool Eagles.

"I thought we defended the ground extremely well (against Portland), we know that they like to move the ball well," Battistello said.

"Part of our game is built from our defensive half but it's also our full-ground defence.

"Three of their goals were from free kicks and one of them they earned so we felt like we defended extremely well.

"With our system everyone has to buy into it, it doesn't just start in the back six, it goes all the way through.

"It was a full team effort to keep a good side like Portland to four goals and Harry Lee played on (Tom) Sharp who has been outstanding all year for them and kept him goalless, so from an individual perspective that was great but he got plenty of support as well."

Recruit Jack Dye (five goals) and Shannon Beks (three) were the beneficiaries of the Roosters' defensive strength and proved a handful in the attacking half.

Battistello said South Warrnambool, which is averaging 99 points a game for, got through the match without any injury concerns.

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