by Nicholas Duck
That's more like it.
Drouin may not have come away winners against Morwell on Saturday but they came away with a lot more respect in a competitive defeat to a top five team.
Having been pummelled by their cross town rivals the week before, the Hawks responded with a much more positive performance, despite ultimately being beaten 8.8 (56) to 13.10 (88) in a 'home' fixture at Traralgon.
Things are all relative with the Hawks. Featuring an almost unprecedented number of teenagers in the side and not having their home ground available, they've got to take the wins where they can get them, small as they might be.
Their pressure was up and about throughout the day, staying in the Morwell players' faces to make them earn their possessions.
Their short kicking game was much improved from last week, where they struggled to hit targets throughout.
In terms of disposals (329-319), contested possessions (133-120) and inside 50s (42-44) it was a relatively good day for Drouin.
The only thing they lacked was reward on the scoreboard – Drouin were only able to find one goal in the first half, despite their best efforts.
Their second quarter was especially costly, where they were kept to just one behind while the Tigers built what was ultimately a match winning lead thanks to some cleaner movement inside 50.
Still, rather than drop their heads, the Hawks got to work to keep their opponents honest, kicking seven goals to eight past half time.
It was a damn sight better than their 89-point capitulation to the Tigers back in round one.
Defender Ben Tranfield led the way for Drouin's defensive commitment, keeping the always dangerous Brandon McDonald to two goals and limited influence otherwise.
Will Young helped on that front in the backline, as Kye (39 disposals) and Aden Quirk (44 disposals) bounced back to rack up plenty of clearances through the midfield.
Ruck Denver Lund competed strongly against Morwell big men Isaac Abas and Charlie Burr as Max Williames again shone off half back.
For Morwell Brandon Mcauliffe was a real presence around the ball, crashing and bashing his way at the contest to great effect.
Sam Walsh continues to develop nicely as a damaging outside player and got on the end of three goals to go with his excellent performance while Blake Couling, Anthony Rosato, Cody Macdonald and Aidan Quigley were all influential in the win.
It took almost eight minutes for either team to strike the first blow until Rosato got the Tigers rolling with a nice right foot bomb out of a stoppage.
Further goals to Walsh and Abas had Morwell looking ominous until Drouin fought back courtesy of a nice set shot from Seb Amoroso.
Unfortunately for the Hawks that was to be their only goal of the half as they struggled to make the most of their inside 50s in the second term.
It wasn't for a lack of opportunity either, instead being cruelled by some simple errors.
Morwell continued to press on with two more goals, extending their lead to 29 points at half time.
The teams found things on relatively even keel in the third – Morwell at one stage pushed out to beyond 40 points, Drouin then fighting back with three consecutive goals to Lund, Riley Wierzbicki and Kaiden Walmsley.
The Hawks at times threatened to creep closer, only for the Tigers to find the steadier when required.
Cody Fleming had to be taken from the ground in the last quarter after being brought down hard in a bruising tackle, coming off with a concussion from his head hitting the ground.
There also were fears surrounding a potentially serious knee injury, though he appears to have avoided the worst.
The Tigers will happily take the win and were deserved winners as they now turn their attention to a bona fide eight-point game this weekend against Warragul. With both teams sitting at five wins and five losses, the winner will have gone some way to securing a spot inside the top five.
Drouin coach Leigh Horsburgh was delighted with his team's response, saying "it was like a different team to the week before."
"Even though the score says they won quite convincingly it was a lot closer than that," he said.
"The thing that hurt us the most was probably our second quarter. We want to focus on the positives though and we had a lot of those, our defensive group was really switched on and were winning plenty of one on ones.
"Last time we played them we really fell away late but they fought it out to the end. Really good effort by the boys."
Drouin travel to Bairnsdale this weekend still in search of their first win.