Tara Murray
Werribee Centrals overcame terrible conditions early and Anakie to further cement their spot in the Geelong and District Football League top five.
The rain fell heavy early on Saturday at Galvin Park with the big crowd flocking for the covers.
As the rain cleared the scoring started for the Centurions who were facing an Anakie side coming off its first win in a number of years.
Centurions managed to take control of the game once the rain went away on the way to a 15.28 (118)-0.2 (2) win.
Centurions coach Rhyce Prismall said it was an interesting day of football.
“I think all week it didn’t look too good,” he said. “It was very wet and slippery in the first quarter.
“The sun then came out in the second quarter and it wasn’t too bad.
“We knew they were coming off a win last week, their first in a couple of years. We knew that we needed to get some scoreboard pressure.”
The Centurions lead 39-2 at half time with the game on their terms. They kept Anakie scoreless for the rest of the game.
The margin could have been a lot bigger had the Centurions kicked a bit straighter.
“We probably don’t practice goalkicking enough,” Prismall said. “We’ve been pretty good for the first half of this year.
“Kicking 15.28 doesn’t look good. There were a lot of long points, with people getting the wind behind their back and going for it.”
Kai Gomes Pattiyage kicked three goals for the Centurions with Bradley Carlton, Benjamin Leonard and Joshua MacDonald kicking two goals each.
Prismall said it was pretty hard to pick the best six on the day, with plenty of contributors,
He highlighted the games of Jack Stephenson down back, Tyler Crennan, Michael Calliver and Carlton in the middle.
Prismall said Gomes Pattiyage, who is just 17, also got some reward for the work that he has been putting in.
The Centurions sit in third spot with a 7-3 record after 10 rounds.
Primsall said they would have taken that at the start of the season.
“To be 7-3 after being 5-13 last year,” he said. “We’re happy with 7-3 and in third spot but we can’t be complacent as there’s seven or eight teams looking to make the five.
“We’re really happy with a couple of other results going our way. We have to control what we can control.
“Pre-Christmas we were thinking finals might be a stretch. We’re now in a position to possibly play finals. We just want to make it and anything can happen from there.”
The Centurions this week face Winchelsea.
Primsall said they just need to continue to have an even spread of contributors each week and show the depth they have to hopefully keep winning.
Meanwhile, the Centurions netballers also had a big win, beating Anakie, 74-16.
Bridgette Ardossi shot 63 goals for the Centurions.
