Warriors got off to a good start against the Roos and despite the match see sawing in favour of both teams, Stawell were pleased that they didn't let the game get away from them.

Stawell led at each of the minor breaks, however Dimboola led when it counted.

Assistant coach Brad Thomas was pleased with the intensity of the Stawell players, but was adamant it was their game to win or lose.

"We lost the game, they didn't win in," Thomas said.

"We controlled most of the game, but we didn't finish it off. We need to know how to finish games off and that will be something we work on at training.

Adding to the disappointment of losing was the injuries to brothers Kyle and Luke Hendy.

Kyle was the first to go down clutching at his ankle following a ruck contest in the second quarter.

He was assisted from the ground and took no further part in the game and is expected to undergo scans early this week to find out more.

Older brother Luke went down in the third quarter after a marking contest went horribly wrong and he hurt his shoulder.

Both players will be expected to miss the Minyip Murtoa clash this weekend.

"We can't use excuses for the loss, but it would have been handy to have both players out there," Thomas said.

"We lost Kyle fairly early so that hurt us as we were one rotation down."

Positives to come out of the match were debutante Jack Walker playing well and finding himself in the best players and Naish McRoberts who was also in the best.

Brenton Potter kicked six goals last week and another five goals this week, but it was his pressure inside the forward fifty that was pleasing to see.

Potter laid a strong tackle to get Stawell within a kick with four minutes to go in the final quarter.

After slotting that one through he then laid a strong tackle and was rewarded with the football in almost an identical spot on the ground.

Potter kicked truly and Stawell led by two points with under two minutes of football to be played.

Dimboola's Jayden Kuhne answered with a last minute goal and Stawell ran out of time.

Thomas saw many positives from the match, however it was the basics where Stawell let themselves down.

"We didn't do the basics well and that is what let us down," Thomas said.

"We need to work on the defence aspect of our game. We can't get down on ourselves because of the result, we need to take some ownership and be better for it in our next game."

Stawell made a point to shut down key players Ashley Clugston and Lachlan Exell and both Scott Driscoll and Scott Rathgeber played their roles to perfection.

The final score was Stawell 14.10.94 to Dimboola 15.8.98.