Hawks go down swinging
There are ways for a rebuilding team to lose, and there are ways to lose that they want to avoid at all costs.
Drouin's past two matches have been the latter, with the Hawks playing far from their best footy in disappointing results.
And although the final scoreboard on Saturday had them losing by 10 goals on a rough muddy surface, it was one of their better showings in some time.
The 10.8 (68) to 20.9 (129) was a somewhat expected result given the fact that Drouin is in the early stages of a rebuild and Moe are challenging for a flag.
But unlike their past two matches, Drouin made a solid account of themselves, particularly early, as they threw themselves into the contest and showed some clean ball movement at various stages.
Against a side like Moe, however, the gulf in talent and class was always going to be a significant hurdle to overcome.
Fresh off of being the first side to defeat Leongatha in two years, the Lions are one of the most complete units in the Gippsland League.
With plenty of stars on every line and sitting at seven wins and one loss, they're as good a chance as any this year to take home the premiership flag.
Their mid-season recruitment of former-AFL player Billy Gowers, who booted his second bag of six in as many weeks, has seemingly solved the loss of Kristian Jaksch for the year.
And when the whips were cracking on the weekend, their experienced unit stood up.
They were needed too, especially after the start Drouin managed to find.
The Hawks have made it a habit this year of beginning their matches slowly, often leaving them to play catch-up for the rest of the day.
Here, however, they had what was undoubtedly their best first quarter of the year.
With Tim Hancock taking ruck duties in the absence of Aaron Pawel, Drouin utterly dominated around the ball in the opening stages of the match.
Hugo Birks kicked the first of the match after decisively winning a one-on-one with Moe coach Declan Keilty in what was to be his first of five goals for the day.
Birks has proven an astute pick-up for the team, giving them the goalkicking target they desperately lacked last season.
He currently sits at 25 goals from his eight games, leaving him third in the league goalkicking with just experienced stars Brandon McDonald and Jack Ginnane ahead of him.
He wasn't the only player showing early form, as the Hawks deprived their much more experienced opponents of the ball.
Hancock's move to the ruck was paying dividends - although not the biggest player around, his follow-up work at ground level was sublime.
Kye Quirk's class around the ground was shining through, as was captain Jarrod Marshall.
It gave the Hawks an early three-goal lead, perhaps unexpectedly given the calibre of their opposition.
The Lions fought back to reduce the margin to just seven at quarter time, but the home fans had already seen more to like in one quarter than they had for Drouin's past two matches.
If Moe had been a little shocked at the early resistance, then they were able to recalibrate and come out firing in the second.
The quality of the Lions began to take over, with Ben Daniher, Jacob Wood and Harrison Sim ensuring the clearances went their way.
And with Gowers looking hungry, it was just a matter of time before the Lions worked their way on top.
Six goals in the second quarter swung the game back to the visitors, giving them a 22-point half time lead.
Any hope of a Hawks comeback were shortlived in the third, as Moe kept the pressure up to extend their lead by 43 at the final change.
To Drouin's credit, though, they refused to give up the fight.
The Hawks lack some of the quality and polish of the top teams, but one could hardly accuse them of lacking fight.
The fourth term was a relatively even affair, before three late junk time Lions goals pushed the final margin beyond 10 goals.
Despite the result, Drouin will take more out of the loss than their last two weeks.
They remain winless and anchored to the bottom of the table, but like they have for most of the year showed in patches that when they get their game up and running they're no pushover.
Things don't get any easier with their schedule, as they head to Leongatha to take on the reigning premiers next week.
The Parrots obliterated the Hawks in both of their meetings last year, including one game where they held the maroon and gold goalless.
No doubt Drouin will be looking to make a better showing this time.