Tara Murray
Not much went right for Werribee in its Victorian Football League loss to Sydney on Saturday.
After failing just short in its last couple of games, Werribee put in one of its worst performances of the season against the Swans at Avalon Airport Oval.
Werribee trailed by five goals at quarter time and the margin continued to grow each quarter, with the Swans winning 16.6 (102)-4.8 (32).
Werribee coach Michael Barlow said the match was a challenging one.
“Not much went right and I think we acknowledge that,” he said.
“It came after a couple of weeks where we didn’t get the result against Carlton and Gold Coast Suns after large chunks, in our eyes, controlling the game.
“On reflection [this week] we look at how we were with the energy and the appetite which wasn’t quite there. We’ll go again after a good reflection.”
Barlow said they faced a very strong Sydney side, which knew what to do and were accountable to their roles.
He said while his side continued to put in a strong performance around the contest like they had in recent weeks, they were unable to make the most of their opportunities when they arose.
He said skill execution was one area they know they have to get better at.
For Werribee, it was all single goal kickers in the loss. Co-captain Tom Gribble led the way with possessions, with 33.
Barlow said they didn’t have many players win their positions.
“Reflecting on the game, it was hard to find a winner,” he said.
“We threw it around a little bit with not much going right. They exposed us early so we threw some guys in different roles.
“We had some little wins and there’s some pieces we might be able to go to again.
“The ability to shift a player from midfield to back at times going forward.”
Mathew Keast made his debut for Werribee in the loss, the 12th player to debut for the club this season.
Barlow said Keast, who kicked one goal, deserved his opportunity in the side and would be better for the experience.
Werribee this week has the bye.
Barlow said ideally they would have liked to have been ahead of the ledger at this part of the season, but instead they sit 2-4 and in 15th spot.
He said they now have an understanding of where they sit and what they need to do.
“We have a sample size of games and we actually understand where the players are at individually,” he said.
“The coaches will continue to communicate and hopefully we’ll get a collective shift. We’ll review some stuff and acknowledge what we are doing well and what we might need to improve on.
“We’ll look to make some gains individually and improve on skill execution and put them into position at training.
“Hopefully those individual gains will then push us forward as a collective.”
Barlow said they were hopeful that Nick Coughlan would be in the selection mix after the bye as he makes a return from injury.
He said Jesse Clark and Matt Hanson would be eying returns closer to the midway point of the season.
