The Rats held a 14-point lead heading into the final term, but with restricted interchange rotations and a strong wind to contend with the home team succumbed to a fresher Eagles' outfit, 7.11 (53) to 7.6 (48).

It is the third time this season Ararat has gone down by less than a goal.

Rats' joint-coach David Hosking said that while Saturday's defeat probably hurt the playing group the most, he doesn't believe it was as disappointing as the other two close losses.

"I don't think it was our worst loss. The games against Nhill and Stawell we lost them because of dumb stuff we did at critical points of the match, whereas on Saturday we were just spent by the last quarter and they finished it off stronger," he said.

"We were down a rotation in the opening minutes of the first quarter and down two by at least halftime, so you could tell by the final term the boys were out on their feet."

Nick Brain was the Rats' first casualty, leaving the field in the early stages of the opening quarter with a hamstring strain and failed to return.

Defender Nick Maddison began the match at full forward, which looked to be a master stroke from Hosking and Andrew Louder, with the joint-captain presenting well and clunking an early mark.

While Maddison was unable to convert, Matt North got the Rats on the board midway through the term to stay in touch at quarter time.

North continued to be a strong target up forward for the Rats in the second quarter and kicked his second of the afternoon at the six minute-mark.

Moments later ruckman Liam Cavanagh snuck forward and calmly converted to get Ararat to within three points of the Eagles.

Hosking said Cavanagh, particularly in the first half of the match, was an important go-to target around the ground.

"We thought we had a significant advantage with Liam because their ruckman is a bit of a plodder and with Cav's athleticism we wanted to expose that," he said.

"I thought he did a good job in the role we asked him to play."

Despite going another man down with Jack Ganley also injuring his hamstring, the Rats went into the halftime break trailing by just nine points and were well and truly in the match.

Ararat hit the ground running in the third quarter, keen to make the most of a strong wind, and the deficit was quickly reduced to three points when James Laidlaw kicked his first of three for the quarter.

Laidlaw's second major minutes later from 50 metres out gifted the Rats the lead, while Jake Williamson then extended the margin to 10-points with a long range goal on the run.

"That was a terrific quarter, Andrew and I were really happy with the effort," Hosking said.

"I think we kicked the ball to the right spots and into the dangerous area which caused problems for Warracknabeal. We took the lead midway through and were up 14 points by three quarter time I honestly thought that would be enough for us to win the match.

"There were two things in my opinion that were the difference in the end.

"We were down on rotations and even at Wimmera league level if you take out a rotation you lose drive, especially through the middle as the onballers get tired.

"The second thing was that we tried to save the game in the last quarter instead of going out there and trying to win it. We had to keep scoring and instead we went into our shell a little bit."

The ball spent the majority of the final term in the Eagles' forward half and goals to full forward Peter Weir and Brock Orval saw momentum swing back in favour of the visitors'.

Williamson continued to battle hard throughout the match and was named the Rats' top performer.

"Since getting back to full fitness after his ankle injury, Jake has been great," Hosking said.

“Jake, Searle and Billy (Maddison) have all been terrific for us, especially in the past few weeks.”

Three junior players, Brayden Ferguson, North and Zander Laidlaw rounded out Ararat’s best.

“We were really happy with all three of those players, Ferg in particular,” Hosking said.

“When he came off the ground with pretty bad cramps (in the fourth quarter) you could just see he was absolutely spent. 

“He ran himself into the ground on the weekend and let’s not forget he is still an underage player who has held down the wing all year, so we are pleased with him and he should be pretty happy with himself too.”

With a final round showdown against premiership favourite Dimboola to come, Hosking said it was important the Rats don’t let the hard work of the past month slip.

“The main message I want to convey is that it’s not time to put the cue in the rack,” he said.

“We have played really good footy in the last four weeks and while there is not necessarily a lot to play for now, it is still really important to finish the season off well.”