The Rats absorbed the Roos' pressure throughout four tight quarters to eventually clinch a 15.5 (95) to 13.7 (85) win.

"There are a few reasons why it was our best so far it was away from home which is not something we have been overly good at, it was against a team that is good quality and has monstered us physically and as a consequence mentally over the last few years, and it was tight all the way through," Hosking said.

"All those elements combine for a really good win."

Ararat got the first on the board through Beau Cosson in the opening minutes, before a free kick down field gifted Riley Taylor his first major of the afternoon.

The Rats raced away to a 17-point lead soon after courtesy of a good intercept mark in defence by James Hosking which resulted in a Gordon Laurie goal.

The Roos responded by kicking three of the next four majors to trail by eight points at the first change.

With ruckman Xavier Vearing continuing his dominant form, Ararat was able to string together a further three goals to start the second term, as Cosson, Jacob Bates and Jack Ganley all converted, however Dimboola again found a way to respond and hit back on the scoreboard.

Hosking said the Rats were dealt a blow as halftime approached, with Ganley forced out of the match after suffering mild concussion.

"We had to counter what we saw as their physical inside strength around stoppages and Jack was one of our important inside-midfielders," he said.

"We have very good midfielders in Alan (Batchelor), Harry (Ganley), Jacob (Bates) but they're lightly framed. To ask them to do the heavy lifting in those types of games, is asking them to do something they aren't equipped to do.

"So the bigger and stronger inside guys like David Brady, Jack Ganley and Beau Cosson become really important particularly against a team like Dimboola.

"To lose one of those players really restricted our ability."

Ararat was winning all the important areas after the conclusion of the first half, with the team holding a 19-point lead, however Hosking said he was wary of the Roos' ability to stay in the contest.

"Dimmy's experience over a number of years mean they find a way. Even when they are being beaten around the ground, they can still restrict your ability to score," he said.

"They just chisel away until there is an opening and then kick a quick goal. The key point we wanted to make at halftime was that type of thing will happen, that is why they are a good team. We just had to keep pushing, because they'll hang in as long as they can, but if you don't give an inch either eventually if you wear them down to the point where they can't catch you."

Despite the best efforts of players such as Tom Williamson and Stephen Phillips, who were providing good run off the back flank and wing respectively, Dimboola was the better team during the third term.

The Roos outscored Ararat 5.3 to 3.0 to peg the margin back to just four points at the final change.

“Because we were getting a lot of rebound and drive from Liam (Cavanagh) at half-back, they moved (Lachie) Exell deep forward and I think that move was designed to take Cav out of the game,” Hosking said.

“We discussed on the bench at the time whether we leave Liam on him, we will never know what the right or wrong answer was, because I left him on Exell and we won the game, but who knows if they do it again next time what we’d do.

“That was one of the key reasons perhaps that they got back in the game during the third quarter, on top of losing Jack.”

Momentum looked to have swung in Dimboola’s favour as the four term got underway, with Rats’ defender Brady Miller sent from the field with a yellow card following a high bump.

A goal to Harry Ganley gave his team some breathing space, before an arm wrestle played out for 20 minutes as both sides battled for ascendancy.

With two and a half minutes remaining the Roos finally broke through to reduce their deficit back to four points, however the visitors responded almost instantly through Jake Robinson to seal victory.

“What was actually noticeable from the sideline was even though we were a man down on the field, we seemed to have all the numbers around the ball and across the ground,” Hosking said.

“Not only did we hang in there, I thought we outplayed them through the period when we were one short.

“I was immensely proud of everyone’s efforts in the last quarter, it was just terrific.”

Hosking said the club would defend Brady Miller’s report at the tribunal following front-on contact to Torin Petrie, while Dimboola’s Simon Nuske has accepted a one-match ban for a behind-the-play incident with Rats’ forward Jake Williamson.