Tara Murray
Werribee’s winning streak remains intact, but it wasn’t without a fright in the Victorian Football League on Saturday.
Having won its last seven games, Werribee faced another test against Carlton in windy conditions at Avalon Airport Oval.
Like so many of Werribee’s games this season, the game wasn’t a complete four quarter performance, but Werribee came out on top.
The Tigers had to come from 17 points behind at three quarter time, to get the win, kicking the winning goal in the 24th minute.
The Tigers claimed the points, 11.10 (76)-10.10 (70).
Coach Michael Barlow said the match was actually what they had expected going into the match.
“They are a good team, they have won three on the bounce,” he said.
“They were the strongest they had been all year with players like Jack Silvagni, Lewis Young and George Hewett in the team.
“We knew it would be a hard game. The best thing was we are still winning with having areas and gaps in our game.
“Particularly in the second and third quarters. They opened up some gaps and we were able to rectify that in the last quarter.”
Barlow said while many games were affected by wind on Saturday, with Avalon Airport Oval partly covered in, it wasn’t as bad as some other grounds.
He said the wind still played an impact in the game with a scoring end.
“We were going into the wind in the first quarter and the scores were level,” he said.
“The second quarter challenged us in terms of their ball use. Both teams were probably better into the wind in the first half.
“We turned that around in the second half, with the conditions improving in the second half.”
Barlow said the Blues had the better of the game in the middle two quarters, but they were able to respond in a seesawing game.
Despite trailing at the final break, Barlow said they had no hesitation that they couldn’t get the job done.
“We’ve got a fair bit of belief in what we can do in the last quarters,” he said.
“Gold Coast we come from behind. Casey we were even at three quarter time break and ran away with it.
“Southport earlier in the year too. It wasn’t about the result, wit was more about playing how we know we can.
“We stepped up in areas they were letting us down at three quarter time.”
Werribee started to win the contested ball and clearances and with it turned the game in its favour.
Barlow said they put the pressure on for the first 10-15 minutes before running away with it after that.
Barlow said the way that the group continued to respond was something that he was proud of.
“I’m full of admiration for the players,” he said. “The connected nature of the team of the players and the personnel and the believing in each other.
“Not everyone is a match winner. There are real moments in close games that add up and we’ll look at that during the week.”
Shaun Mannagh kicked three goals for Werribee including the last two of the match which sealed the victory.
Barlow said they had challenged Mannagh as three quarter time with his ball use not up to scratch in the first three quarters.
He also highlighted the role of Noah Lever in the final quarter, who played a role in both of those last two goals.
Tom Gribble led the way with 35 disposals while Mannagh had 28 and Kye Declase had 26 possessions.
Barlow said it was Gribble that led the way.
“It’s a bit of groundhog day,” he said. “Tom was definitely a four quarter performance and we didn’t have a huge amount on them on the day.
“The last six weeks have been as good as he has played since 2019 when I returned to the club and that says a lot.”
Nick Coughlan, Nathan Cooper and Jesse Clark were the other standouts.
The win now has Werribee in third spot and a game ahead of the chasing pack.
Barlow said they now start to look at the ladder and where they are.
“We planned out a block of seven weeks,” he said.
“We have a look and acknowledge that we’ve given ourselves a chance in the season.
“We chat about that fact and then we go straight back into the process.”
Werribee has a bye this week, with Barlow saying how they went about things this week was the first part of the next block of the season.
