Panmure overruns Allansford in WDFNL thriller on Saturday

The Cats very nearly made it two-from-two against the 2022 grand finalists this season, but were overrun in the final term despite leading for most of the afternoon, 9.13 (67) to 7.8 (50).

Bant, who moved the emerging Warrnambool and District league star into the ruck after an ankle injury to impressive recruit Rylan Rattley, said his big man showed plenty of leadership to fill the void.

"Jacob really did end up turning the game after Rylan went off and didn't come back just before half-time," he said.

"He gave us a bit of a different look I thought, we got our hands on it more and (he) dominated around the ground."

The Bulldogs mentor said he was impressed with his group's ability to adapt to the tough conditions.

"It was a really contested game," he said. "It wasn't raining hard, more spitting which made the ball pretty slippery all day.

"I thought our third quarter was our best against the breeze, we kicked three or four and I was really confident going into the last being down by eight or so.

"We were pretty good overall, all of the boys got their hands dirty and did what they needed to to get the win in the end."

Others, such as gun midfielder Tyler Murnane and Damian Moloney relished the conditions to lift in key moments.

Bant confirmed Rattley was likely to miss a few games but was unsure at this stage at the severity of the injury.

Allansford coach Tim Nowell lamented a 10-minute lapse but was proud of his group's efforts.

"The 10 minutes in the third where they kicked three against the wind really hurt us," he said. "We had opportunities in the fourth but I'm super impressed with the boys overall. It was a great game of football and our intensity was up all day.

"As much as I'm disappointed I'm happy with how we played and the intensity we brought to the game."

Zavier Mungean's excellent form rolled on with another strong performance while Aiden Gordon battled hard for the Cats.

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