The Spirit of ’93 was alive and well at Avalon Airport Oval as Werribee produced a commanding 65-point win against Port Melbourne.A large home crowd, full of past players, witnessed one the Tigers’ best performances this season, as they kicked 16 goals to four after quarter time in a dominant display.Port Melbourne kicked away early, key forward Dean Galea making the most of a slight breeze to record five goals in the opening term.The Borough were able to run through the middle and get goal side of their Werribee opponents, but two late goals to Ben Warren reduced the margin to 13 points at the first change.
A ferocious Tigers’ outfit attacked the ball harder after the break, while also applying more pressure on Port’s ball carriers, which paid huge dividends.A Ben Brown check-side snap reduced the margin to eight points, before Jordan Gysberts fed out a handball to Luke McDonald for another Werribee goal.When Tim McGennis kicked another goal from the centre clearance just seconds later, the Tigers took the lead and did not relinquish it for the rest of the afternoon.With Jake Wilson suffering an injury early in the piece, key defenders Michael Firrito and Scott McMahon played vital roles in defence, and Galea hardly saw the ball for the rest of the afternoon.
“Obviously they’ve (McMahon and Firrito) have got the skill and the experience to play really good footy back there. To be able to have those two to rally the troops is a big bonus. It wasn’t good for Jake (Wilson), but that’s footy unfortunately,” Coach Scott West said. Brett Meredith and Gysberts found plenty of the ball, but it was Ben Ross who led the way in one of his best performances for the year, which West described as “outstanding”.
“He had a heap of run in his legs and used the ball well, spread well and he defended well around the footy as well. He had a really good game if you want to just mention one, but obviously across the board we were pretty good.” The Tigers’ run-and-carry shone after the major break, as the home side was able to wreak havoc all over the ground – linking up with handballs and breaking the lines by foot.
Majak Daw, Brown and Warren provided three key targets up forward, but the goals came from a number of contributors as Werribee dominated possession and capitalized on the scoreboard. With a 33-point lead at the final break, it was the Tigers who finished full of run on a warm Sunday afternoon. Sharp snaps from Kieran Harper and George Cameron increased the lead, while Maric, Warren and Daw all finished with four goals apiece.
After two narrow losses in succession, West said the win was a “great feeling”. “Any win’s a good feeling to be honest, (but) it was a big day for the club with the Past Players Day and 20 Year Reunion last night. You have to respect all that and I thought the boys did it well. ”It carries extra significance, as Werribee now jumps above Port Melbourne on the ladder ahead of two tough games against the Northern Blues and Collingwood.
“That’s why this game is so important. It puts us ahead of Port now by two points, and obviously then we’ve got teams around us. We have to keep winning to finish as high as we can,” West said. “The one thing about footy is you just worry about what you can control, and that’s playing good footy and winning, making sure we prepare well and all those sorts of things so we can… perform like we did today.”
Last Modified on 12/08/2013 18:33