Football
24 July, 2026
Eagles lose 'great game of footy'
In what Ararat coaching director Corey Taylor described as a "great game of footy", the Rats had to contend with a plucky Eagles side in order to get the four points on Saturday.
"It wasn't until halfway through the last quarter that we were able to extend the margin to four goals and seal the win," Taylor said.
Only a point separated Ararat and Warrack at the end of the first quarter: 3.2 (20) to 3.1 (19).
The Eagles earned a bit of breathing space in the second and were up by 22 points at half-time, but to the Eagles' credit, they ate into that deficit to go into the final term down 13.9 (87) to 11.5 (71).
In the last quarter, Ararat added 2.2 to their score while Warrack kicked 1.4 as the final scores settled at 15.11 (101) to 12.9 (81).
Over the last few weeks, Eagles coach Kyle George says he's been disappointed by the gap between his side's best and worst football.
But in good news for the side, the coach said after the clash against the Rats that improvement was showing.
He said the difference on Saturday was that the opposition was just a "bit more classy" than the side from Warrack.
"We're happy to have played like that," George said.
“A loss is still a loss, but we did everything right.
"We had five out still so that was hard."
Ben Taylor, Hugh Toner, Matthew Spalding and Riley Taylor were the better players for Ararat, and Billy Stokes, Jackson Taurau, John Jorgensen and Nicholas Lehman led the way for Warrack.
Major goal kickers included Jorgensen, with seven, for the losing side, and Ben Taylor, with three, for the winners.
This Saturday, in what will be round 14 of the season, the Eagles have the bye before returning to Anzac Park against the Demons on August 1.