Sport
2 May, 2026
Eagles look to lock down opening win
The Eagles will be looking for their first win of the season in the Wimmera Football Netball League this Saturday as they face Dimboola at their recreation reserve.
While it's been an interrupted start to the year for Dimboola, having played only one match in four weeks, Warrack have played a couple of games and, despite demonstrating progress, haven't been able to secure a win.
The Eagles lost their first hitout of the season to Horsham Saints, 6.3 (39) to 11.16 (82), before dropping game two to Stawell, 12.3 (75) to 14.15 (99).
Ararat belted Dimboola in their opening, and only, match this season, 28.13 (181) to 4.1 (25).
But after another week off, with the two Horsham sides the only teams to battle it out on Anzac Day across the league, the Andrew Moore-led side is ready for their clash against Warrack this week after having the chance to assess and reflect after their first match.
"We've highlighted some areas that we need to improve on, and it's not as if that is going to happen immediately; we will continue training certain elements, and a lot of that is around the ball," Moore said.
"That's an area we need to focus on initially: shape around the ball, contested footy, but also what we're doing in our running patterns etc and supporting each other."
Moore said the Eagles played a "contested, lock-you-up" brand of footy, and it wasn't always necessarily a high-scoring game against them.
"It means it will be a bit of a stoppage game and we are going to have to look at elements to get the run on the ball as much as we can," he said.
Given Moore wasn't expecting a high scoring hitout, he said it was crucial Dimboola crack down on opportunities in the Eagles forward line, with John Jorgensen in particular kicking off the season well for Warrack in the forward 50.
"He looks like he has been playing some good footy," Moore said.
"For us, it's more around our defence as a team; it's not only one player who's going to lock these players down.
"Yes, we will come up with a bit of a plan and roles, but it's more so around how we limit their transition and that's from our forward 50 into the D-50."
But Dimboola has its own players who can heavily impact the match, and the coach said he would be hoping for big games from them this week.
"The likes of Jake Rigoni, he's new to the club but has taken ownership of that role in the ruck, along with Noah Campbell as well," Moore said, adding Tom O'Dwyer was another player he was looking forward to seeing progress.
On the flipside, Eagles coach Kyle George said his side was expecting a lot of pressure from the Dimboola side.
"We will be looking to keep their leaders, like Moore, quiet, limiting their impact on the match," George said.
George, who said his side could take a lot of confidence from last week that they could match it with the best if they were disciplined the entire game, added this week they would need to step up their act around pressure in winning the ball first in contests.
"Our second-tier players really need to step up,” George said.
“We have more depth this year than previously; those boys need to start doing the right things and get more of the ball moving forward.”