Tara Murray
Twelve months ago a late comeback by Werribee against the Gold Coast Suns in the Victorian Football League fell short.
On Saturday, Werribee found themselves down by 42 points at half time against the undefeated Suns.
This time a second half comeback would prove successful with Werribee winning, 14.7 (91)-13.11 (89).
Werribee coach Michael Barlow said it was nice to finally come away with a win in a close match.
“It feels nice to be on the right end of one of those close ones,” he said.
“We played Gold Coast 12 months ago and were down by a similar margin at half time and came back and should have won it.
“The game followed the same trend, but this time we were able to win it 12 months on. This has been brewing and it’s nice to get the result in a really close game.”
Heading into the game, Barlow and his coaching staff felt this was a good opportunity to see where the side sat.
They saw some positive and negative signs in the first half.
“The first quarter we played really well in key areas in the game but we were doing it without executing,” he said.
“We knew what Gold Coast could do given some rope and in the second quarter in particular they took us apart pretty significantly.
“Going into the game… We didn’t know our maximum and all our deficiencies. Playing Gold Coast we were going to get a good level of that and where the side was.”
Werribee made some changes at half time to try and get back into the game. Barlow also touched on the situation they found themselves in last time against Gold Coast.
“We changed some things around at half time and the players were still in a positive mindset,” he said.
“The message was we were in this situation 12 months ago with a similar margin and lost by three points.
“Draw on the past experiences, but we made it clear that it wasn’t going to happen in five minutes, it would take a while.”
Four goals to one in the third quarter reduced the margin to 29 points at the last break. When the goals continued early in the last quarter, the margin was back to within two goals, 10 minutes into the last quarter.
“We got the message out to the boys and told them not to go into overload,” Barlow said. “It was always going to go deep from there.
“We’ve been in enough situations the last couple of years not getting the result. That feeling of coming back late, there was a bit of euphoria.
“The siren came at the right time.”
A goal in the 32nd minute by Hudson Garoni would seal the win for Werribee.
Barlow said the most pleasing thing from the coaching point of reviewing the game was seeing the players take leadership of the situation on the ground and aware of what they needed to do.
Garoni finished with three goals, while Sam Paea, Shaun Mannagh, Matthew Hanson and Jack Boyd kicked two goals apiece.
Barlow said it was their leaders that stood up when it really mattered.
“Kye Declase was really good and Tom Gribble had his best game of the season,” he said.
“Dom Brew continued his good form, team of the year sort of form. Matt Hanson returned after only one full training session with the group. He comes in and compliments the midfield and he kicked a couple of goals as well.”
Werribee now sits seventh on the ladder with five wins from seven games.
Barlow said they would take a lot out of the game.
“It was a really good game to review,” he said. “If we are not on our game in patches, good side’s can get away from us pretty quickly, like they did in the second quarter.
“There’s some acknowledgement and the belief, that is really important and you have to have those experiences in games.”
Werribee is again at home this Saturday, hosting Casey from 2.05pm at Avalon Airport Oval.
Barlow said it would be another big challenge for them.
“They are the reigning premiers and a bloody good side,” he said. “We’ll look to give ourselves every chance during the week and on game day.”
