STAWELL Westlift Warriors have been dealt another heavy loss at the hands of Dimboola in the Wimmera Football League.
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After what has been two strong weeks of football for Warriors they were convincingly defeated by a much stronger Roos.
"What they produced is up there with the league's best," coach Brad Cassidy said post game on Saturday.
"We've got a long way to go. We were beaten in every area. They are a very good side."
After the 133 point demolition Cassidy knows the standard and expectation of the Wimmera Football League has lifted.
"They've set the bar pretty high, but that's where we need to be," Cassidy said. We need to hit the track hard, improve and develop."
The youth of the Warriors was again a positive with Ben Taylor taking experience from his first senior game.
Michael Hackwill played his second consecutive senior game when Aidan Potter was unable to play due to an ongoing knee injury.
Taylor showed just some of what he has to offer at the senior level while Hackwill was good enough to be in Stawell's best.
"Hackers performed really well," Cassidy said.
"He went in, won his own ball and hit targets when he did have the footy. We always maintained possession when the ball was in his hands."
While impressed with the efforts of the juniors, Cassidy will have to deal with the inconsistencies that go with having such a young team.
"Young teams take time. Some weeks we'll play well, but you'll fluctuate," he said.
Stawell will move on from the weekend's game and put little time into a review.
"I won't be talking about it at training," Cassidy said.
"It's one of those games you can't let consume you, we must move on."
Players that did play well for Stawell were Cam Kimber, Jackson Dark, Zac Marrow, Todd Cleary, David Morris and Michael Hackwill.
Dimboola's strong performers were all over the ground, with forward Ash Clugston taking best on ground honours for his bag of eight and Tyler Blake, who looked to be in a league of his own, giving Dimboola an edge through the middle and off half back.
While having the break this coming week with the split round, Stawell will look to train hard over the next fortnight so they are competitive against Wimmera powerhouse, Horsham.
Horsham will start the first of four very important weeks for the Warriors as they look for an upset to finish their season.
"These last four games mean a lot to our group," Cassidy said.
"We are certainly positive and optimistic about finishing the year strongly."
If Warriors are any chance at all they will need to get as close to a full side on the field as possible.
They're off to a bad start with Scott Rathgeber, who will most likely miss the remainder of the season after he fractured his jaw in a contest on Saturday.
The young agile defender put his head over the ball and body on the line, only to come off second best.
He is waiting to see a specialist in Melbourne, but is expected to have surgery some time this week.
"We are yet to get a full team on the park," Cassidy said.
"We get one player in only to lose another. That's football though."
The final score was Stawell 5.5.35 to Dimboola's 25.18.168.
"Myself, the football department and the players need to stick together and support each other," Cassidy said.
"We will work through this together."