The Roos had won 10 straight before their grand final rematch against Wangaratta last weekend.

A thrilling final quarter saw the Magpies claim a 50-49 win but coach Bruce was philosophical afterwards.

"I feel like it's a learning curve," she said.

"You don't learn a lot from 20-goal wins but these games, the ones where they're under pressure or they have to come from behind, they're the ones that really make them dig deep and go back to basics.

"These are the games they learn from and it might go down in history as being the loss they needed."

Corowa-Rutherglen have now been joined on 44 points by Yarrawonga, with Wangaratta just one win back in third.

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"It's not a wake-up call, it's just that you can find yourself floating through games," Bruce said.

"We've had some really big wins, margin-wise, and I don't think they allow you to learn a lot.

"You can be more creative in those ones and try new things but you're not overly pressured.

"We were pressured against Myrtleford, it was good to play that game and it was good to have this game.

"Look, take nothing away from Wang.

"Kellie Keen (their coach) is a smart lady.

"They saw what we were doing in the first half and in the second half, they changed their game to push us to our limits.

"This is probably the first game where they've been really pressured and it showed that it takes them a bit to get around that."

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