WERRIBEE Districts paid the price of inexperience in a 14-point loss to Fitzroy in the Victorian Amateur Football Association Premier B at Soldiers Reserve on Saturday.
The Tigers clawed their way back from a nine-point three-quarter time deficit to hit the lead early in the fourth quarter, but did not have the maturity to hold on and slumped to a seventh successive defeat.
Tigers president Rod Harrington told the Weekly it was a clash of two “pretty desperate” winless sides, but his team crumbled late in a sign that it has forgotten how to win.
“It was a good game of footy, but unfortunately we didn’t prevail,” Harrington said.
“We were just down at three-quarter time and kicked the first couple of goals of the last quarter to have our noses in front and a bit of momentum.
“Once again, the young guys are lacking some football maturity and just couldn’t carry on with it.”
The Tigers are a victim of their own success. They have made the second most rapid ascent through the VAFA ranks behind only St Bernard’s.
It took the Tigers inside a decade to move from the old D4 section to the second tier Premier B competition.The top two tiers of VAFA footy are up there with the best competitions outside of the VFL.
The Tigers are realising the importance of player retention.
The departures of up to 50 players in the past two seasons has crippled their senior side’s chances of remaining competitive with the top half of Premier B.
The Tigers have set up a good club culture, but being an amateur competition, they cannot pay to retain good players who get targeted by cashed up clubs from local leagues and the lure is sometimes too enticing.
There is the other aspect of players retiring, leaving for weekend work and overseas travel. It has left a gaping hole on their list, one that has been replenished with talented youngsters from their junior system, but will take time to develop.
“It makes it tough,” Harrington said. “Replacing them with young kids is okay, but they’re just not strong enough or mature enough to be able to handle that level of footy. It’s alright when you’ve got 15 mature-aged players and you can bring four or five young guys in.
“When you’ve got 12 or 13 young guys it’s tough. We’ve got about four guys over 21, the rest are 21 or under.”
That is not to say the Tigers are going to roll over and concede this season.
They have good role models in co-captains Matt Dean and Wayne Pelar, who lead by example. The youngsters are learning by the week and should be more competitive at the other end of the season..
“We’ve just got to keep chipping away,” Harrington said. “The endeavour and the attitude of these guys has been good.”
In division 3, Old Westbourne Grammarians came tantalisingly close to a breakthrough win, losing to Power House by just three points at the Westbourne School Ground.
The Warriors opened up with a 21-point quarter-time lead, holding the visitors scoreless over the first 30 minutes. The hosts held the lead until the last quarter, but Power House finished strongly to snatch victory.
In division 4, Point Cook went down to Hawthorn Amateurs by 36 points in a top-four clash at Saltwater Reserve.
