The game took place at Alexandra Oval, Ararat and both sides fought hard, but the Rats ultimately prevailed bringing home a win of 107 points to the Roos' 35.

The Rats pulled ahead pretty quickly during the first quarter, leading by a margin of 21 points, but arrived at half time in only slightly better shape, with a margin of 27 points.

Rats coach Shane Fisher said in the first half of the game players were missing key opportunities to score.

"I thought in the second quarter we lowered our standards a little bit, and work rate wasn't where it needed to be, and we gauge that by a tackle and pressure when the opposition's got the footy and we were probably a bit slack in that department, and we got better in the third quarter," Fisher said.

"We got a win - it was probably a workman-like win where we just got the job done when we had to.

"We missed a fair few opportunities on the score board. Dimboola played a fairly tough and hard game which was good."

Dimboola senior coach Justin Beugelaar said the outcome was "frustrating", more so because they lost three players to injuries early on.

"We were in the game obviously in our endeavor," he said.

"We just didn't perform when we needed to and obviously losing key players like Matty Rosier early, and a young fella, Hammer, and Daniel Grieg (as well) really didn't help us in the long run.

"But I take nothing away from the Rats - they are a very attacking football side, they are very quick on the outside, and they play their ground really well."

Part of that play included a few changes, Fisher said.

"We got to rotate blokes into different positions and try some guys in different spots, so it was a pleasing day - we got the job done and we can look forward to next week now against the Horsham Saints," he said.

Fisher said recovery will be vital ahead of round four.

"We've got a couple of blokes that are sore, they've played a couple of weeks in a row," he said.

"Today was a bit of a dewy type of game with a bit of wet conditions, so the boys are a bit sore but they've got to work to get over it."

Now Fisher is looking to round four.

"We'll have some confidence but it's going to be a real big challenge this week," he said.

"Horsham Saints at home is a very hard game."

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