It was a case of copy and paste for Werribee in the Victorian Football League on Saturday.
Fresh off a week off, the Tigers were at home against Southport in the second grand final rematch for the season.
For those watching from the sidelines, it was much of the story they had seen all season.
Werribee led by 12 points at quarter time before trailing by three points at the main break.
Five goals to none in the third quarter blew the match open in favour of the Sharks.
While the Tigers responded with three final quarter goals, it was too late as they lost 12.8 (80)-9.13 (67).
Tigers coach Jimmy Allan said it was the same old story in the loss.
“It was copy and paste from most weeks this year,” he said. “The effort was really good and we were right in the game.
“We had enough chances to win the game but howling errors cost us. It was only a couple of goals to be lost by and if we tidied it up a little bit we would have got the win.
“The effort was really good so it would have been nice to get some reward for effort.”
Allan said they had lapses in both the second and third quarters that proved costly for them with the Sharks kicking multiple goals in a row.
They will again look to fix this up heading into the weekend.
“We gave up the ball in horrible spots,” he said. “Hopefully we can fix them and finish on a high.
“We’ve been talking about valuing possession and the guy with the ball is the most important person on the ground.
“We back them to make the right decisions, but we haven’t been able to do it at crucial times and that has hurt us.”
Jack Riding had 27 disposals for the Tigers, with Louis Pinnuck having 24 and Dom Brew 23.
Jay Dahlhaus was the only multiple goal kicker for the Tigers with three.
Allan said Riding’s run and carry from the middle was really good, while Mace Cousins and Jaelen Pavlidis both did good jobs on small forwards.
He said Dahlhaus made the most of limited opportunities, while Brew had a good battle with Jacob Dawson.
Bior Malual in his 100th game also had a good impact. Malual is just the second South Sudanese player to play 100 VFL games, behind Majak Daw.
“It’s a really good story,” Allan said. “He’s a popular figure at the club and the whole community.
“There was a lot of support for him and we were keen to get the job done for him.”
The Tigers also blooded their 22nd debutant of the season with Geelong Falcons’ Hugo Mikunda getting his opportunity.
Allan said he acquitted himself really well and showed his value with some clear ball use.
Werribee will finish its season on Saturday against the Northern Bullants.
Allan said they wanted to finish the season on a high.
“Wins have been few and far between so it’s really important to play well and finish off with a win,” he said.
“We want to go off into the off season feeling good about ourselves.”
Meanwhile, North Melbourne Werribee will have to do it the hard way in the VFLW finals.
The minors premiers opened their finals campaign on Saturday in a qualifying final with Collingwood.
The Kangaroos entered the match on the back of eight straight wins with their last loss coming back in round six to the Magpies.
On Saturday, the Magpies led by five points at quarter time before taking control of the game in the second quarter.
They kicked four goals to one to lead by 25 points at the main break.
The Kangaroos were able to slightly eat into the lead in the third quarter with the margin 16 points at the final break.
The fight back continued early in the last quarter.
North Melbourne Werribee kicked the first goal of the last quarter through Tahlia Meier to give it some hope with the margin back to nine points.
Collingwood was able to respond with one of their own and then do enough to come away with a 7.3 (45)-4.8 (32) win.
