It was a familiar issue for Werribee in its 51-point loss to Sandringham in the Victorian Football League at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Sunday.
Its inability to halt the momentum of an opposition team for an extended period saw the deficit grow like wildfire on the scoreboard.
This time it was six consecutive Sandringham goals from the 32-minute mark of the first quarter to the 19-minute mark of the second term that turned a manageable 15-point deficit into a crippling 49-point margin.
It happened the week before when Footscray rattled off six goals in 14 third-quarter minutes and the game prior to that when Collingwood opened up with a seven-goal-to-one lead.
Conversely, Werribee has shown that it can go on those types of scoring runs of its own.
When it’s hot, Werribee is hard to reel in, freely piling on goals, but it is desperately working at finding ways to stop the opposition run on because it has had severe consequences in the early part of the season.
Werribee running defender Dane McFarlane says the next phase in the development of his young side is being able to execute for the full duration of a game and not switching off for any periods of time.
“Our good is good, but we’re just pretty young at the moment and when we do have that lapse for 15 or 20 minutes, teams can score quickly against us,” he said.
“Like today and the past couple of weeks, teams have done that.
“We just have to play four quarters of footy.
“We have to be on all the time.”
Werribee went into the Sandringham clash with real hopes of returning home with the four points.
Aside from a competitive opening that saw the sides go goal for goal in the first 20 minutes and a three-goal run on late in the third, Werribee was not in the contest.
McFarlane conceded that Sandringham was the harder working side on the day and capitalised whenever his team made errors.
“I think they just out-worked us,” he said.
“It was their work rate and spread from the contest that hurt us.
“We’d turn it over or they’d take an intercept mark and take it coast to coast.”
Jack Berry was a bright spot for Werribee.
The young ruckman has been performing admirably as the lone big man since Nick Nott suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Berry did not back down against Billy Longer, a mature player with plenty of AFL experience.
“‘Bez’ has got big shoes to fill, so it’s tough for him, but I thought he did a pretty good job and it’s all credit to him really,” McFarlane said.
“The coaches gave him a good wrap after the game and I thought he did really well.”
Joe Maishman continued his stellar season in the midfield.
Maishman topped the Werribee coaches votes for his ability to work hard both on the inside and outside of the contest.
“He’s turned the corner and is playing some elite footy,” McFarlane said.
“He kicked a goal from about 50 metres today after breaking a tackle and taking a bounce.
“That’s what he can do, he can break the lines and break tackles and kick the ball long.”
Joel Bennett put his case forward to keep his spot in the side after an impressive final game as the 23rd player and Kye Declase was dangerous with three goals.
McFarlane’s own game was one to savour, racking up 29 disposals. The 25-year-old is looking more comfortable by the week in his role as a rebounding defender.
“I was a forward, but I wasn’t kicking any goals, so they said to go down back and try that,” he said with a laugh.
“It’s sort of worked out for me, it’s good fun and it’s given me a bit of a licence to run and carry, which I enjoy.
“Hopefully I can keep playing some good footy and we can win some games soon.”
McFarlane, who lives in Grovedale, puts his strong form down to two factors.
He has a great support cast in the Werribee defence with former AFL-listed players Sam Collins and Nick Coughlan providing the leadership and he is coming off one of his strongest pre-seasons to date.
“I spent a little bit of time in the gym in the off season with the likes of Joe Maishman and Josh Corbett,” McFarlane said. “We’ve had a good rivalry in the gym, so we had a good crack in the pre-season.
“I put on some weight and a bit of muscle and that’s held me in good stead in those one-on-one battles.
“If I’ve got to play on a taller person, I can at least halve the battles instead of getting out-marked.”
McFarlane has backed his side to get a major scalp soon – and that could come against Box Hill Hawks at Box Hill City Oval this Saturday. He said that Werribee is not daunted by the challenge of facing AFL talent-laden side, but thrives on it.
“We just love playing against AFL teams and trying to compete as hard as we can,” he said. “I reckon we’ve got a good show next week.”
