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LARA coach Matthew Kershaw is hopeful Saturday was a turning point in his side's season, despite going down to South Barwon by 48 points.
Regardless of the result and the final margin, Kershaw said he and his players could walk away with their heads held high, something even he said was unusual.
"Walking away from a 48-point loss reasonably happy just doesn't feel right," Kershaw said.
"I am actually quite happy with the way we went about it. It might actually be a turning point for us.
"People will read the paper and see that it was a 48-point deficit, but really with 15 minutes to go in the last quarter we were still in the game."
As the Cats coach gave his thoughts on his side's performance, he couldn't help but reflect on what could have been, if his players had have kicked straight in the first quarter.
All the traffic was going Lara's way in the opening term but the Cats failed to convert and ultimately paid the price.
Unfortunately for Lara, South Barwon didn't have the same issue.
"We missed the first six goals of the game, we were 0.6 and five of those were set shots and we hit the post twice," Kershaw said.
"We all talk about scoreboard pressure in footy but when you're playing against the best side in the competition, that's when you really have to take your opportunities.
"They took their opportunities and we didn't. If it wasn't for the scoreboard at the end, it was pretty even right throughout the day.
"We won every stat all over the ground except the scoreboard."
Kershaw is optimistic about the rest of the season and hinted that Saturday's gallant performance had restored some faith.
Lara is clinging to the fifth position on the ladder by percentage alone and Kershaw knows his side can't accept anything but a win.
"It was all about taking the positives out of the game, because I thought there was a lot more up side than there was down side," he said.
"I though the effort was there and that we were competitive. I didn't question the boys' effort at all, if we have that attitude and play like that each week then we'll win a lot more games than we'll lose.
"We just have to keep winning now, so it's in our hands."
