BRIGHT left Milawa on Saturday without victory, but its performance was a marked improvement from the round one loss to Whorouly.
The Mountain Men suffered a 43-point defeat to the Demons, but going into the final term only 17 points down, the side had no interchange after three players fell to injury.
In what has been a tough start to the season against some of the benchmark teams of the competition, coach Ryan Kent said his side's improvement was due to a concerted effort on the track leading up to the match.
"It's what we spoke about at training and what we looked at before the season," Kent said.
"It was always going to be tough playing some really good sides the first four rounds.
"In a way it's going to be good to start gelling as a group and each week if we keep improving, by the time we get to the mid-season we should be ready to mix it with the sides we should be able to beat.
"We had a look at the game and saw where we fell down - the young blokes not realising how to use their bodies - and we worked on a lot of that stuff at training during the week.
"To see them apply themselves and put their bodies on the line against a really good side was very pleasing."
While Kent said injuries to Judd Cudmore, Cade Nightingale (dislocated shoulders) and Jason Hewitt (hamstring) were disappointing, the side has the capability to cover their losses, which was something it lacked last season.
"Injuries are always going to happen, if it was last year it would've been a really major thing," he said.
"This year with the reserve group being competitive it is going to help us with our depth - we've virtually got three players who are going to slot straight into the side this week and that's not including the players who played well in the twos."
Players like Jai Dykstra, Cully Hall and Michael Sullivan - all in their first year of senior football - stood up on Saturday against a strong Milawa outfit.
By - ALEX BAIRD.
HARD CONTEST: Jake Pronk (left) scoops up the loose ball; Nathan Jones and Nick Howden (right) fly for the ball; an injured Judd Cudmore (inset) is helped off the ground by club president David Kelly during Saturday's Ovens and King Football League clash against Milawa.
PHOTO: Marc Bongers
Last Modified on 20/04/2012 12:28