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DRYSDALE coach John Fitzgerald has praised his midfield unit for an outstanding last quarter which saw the Hawks run out winners by 27 points over Ocean Grove.
Five goals to one in the final term told the story for Drysdale, who ran over the top of an injury-depleted Grubbers line-up thanks to some slick delivery from its on-ballers.
Tom Mullane-Grant and Shaun Wells shared accolades with two goals each in the last quarter, and Fitzgerald was adamant it was the improvement of his side that helped it run out the match on Saturday.
"Ocean Grove obviously had a lot to play for, virtually their season today and that's the way they played all today," he said.
"I think our last quarter was terrific, really impressive.
"I think we stepped it up and we really started to dominate the midfield.
"We've struggled a bit with our goal-kicking but today the good thing was we got some goals out of our midfielders again, which we were sort of doing earlier in the year and that was working for us."
The Hawks coach was happy to empathise with Ocean Grove, which lacked the older heads of players such as Shane Jack and Rowan O'Callaghan and was clearly out on its feet late in the game.
"They were a few down today. I suppose when it's in a situation where you haven't got that experience, it's easy to fall away," Fitzgerald said.
His appraisal of the Grubbers shows how highly Fitzgerald ranks this victory compared with the rest of the games this season.
"Their form would indicate that they've taken it up to all the teams," he said.
Fitzgerald will now look to prepare his team for a September assault.
"What we've been on about all year is trying to play the sort of footy that we think is going to stand up under pressure, and we'll keep working on that and that'll be with the structure as well what's going to work when we're under the pump," he said.
The Hawks have a favourable draw over the next few weeks, facing Anglesea, Modewarre and Portarlington - games which they would all be expected to win, and in doing so would help reassure them of a top three finish.
Grubbers fade away again - Matt Gibbs
OCEAN Grove's finals hopes hang by a thread after it lost yet another close contest due to a final-quarter fade-out.
Grubbers coach Shane Jack, who was sidelined on Saturday with a knee complaint, was visibly disappointed after the match but refused to rule out the chance of a September berth this year.
"Obviously, if we keep losing games it's going to get harder to make finals," Jack said.
"I just said to the boys I wanted the endeavour there today. And for the first three quarters I thought it was there.
"It's just a few little things we have to change in-house. That's what makes good clubs better clubs."
Ocean Grove clearly understood what was riding on the game and attacked the footy with intent.
But at times the players fell into making poor decisions under pressure.
Despite missing key forwards, the Grubbers found a way to score. Daniel Freeman bagged four in his first senior game this year after dominating in the reserves. And small forward Travis Gavin finished with three majors.
"I thought that in the third quarter we started to really get on top," Jack said.
"We got a goal up and then they got another one late.
"I thought when we got that goal that we could really press home. I was hoping for another one or maybe two.
"It swung the momentum when they got a goal late in the (third) quarter."
An injury to Brayden Sneddon in the third quarter also hurt the Grubbers.
