Werribee dished up its most disappointing performance of the Victorian Football League on Saturday as its finals hopes suffered another hit.
Needing everything to go their way in the run home to defend their premiership, the Tigers performance was something that hasn’t been seen for a couple of years.
The Tigers were in the game at half time with the Casey Demons, who are also fighting for a finals spot, with the margin just 16 points.
After half time it was one way traffic with the Demons piling on 11 goals to just two to run away with a 16.15 (111)-5.5 (35) win.
Tigers coach Jimmy Allan said they went away from what had kept them competitive so far this season.
“We were competitive for a half and then it was a really disappointing effort in the second half,” he said. “It was the first time this season we didn’t give a yelp, which was disappointing.
“They got right on top around the footy and we couldn’t stop them.”
Allan said while they hadn’t got the wins they would have liked this season, their effort had still been there.
He said in the second half they didn’t have that.
“It made for ordinary viewing in the second half,” he said. “We thought we were right in the game at half time.
“They broke our spirit in the third quarter and they ran away from there.
“We struggled to score. The second half felt like we weren’t in the game for the first time.
“It’s something we have to try and fix quickly.”
Allan said defensively they had been pretty good heading into the Demons game and had been the fifth hardest side to score against.
He said scoring continued to be their biggest issue.
“We hang our hat on being hard to play against,” he said. “Starting this week we have to get back to this with no easy games.”
Allan said having a new side this season had been part of the problem with the lack of consistency they’ve had the past two seasons on the way to two grand finals.
On Saturday night, Emerson Jeka became the club’s 18th debutant this season.
Jeka previously played VFL at Box Hill Hawks and Geelong when he was on Hawthorn’s and Geelong’s AFL lists.
“He ran out of steam towards the end,” Allan said of what was a good performance from Jeka.
“He’s a class act and with mainly his contested stuff. His kicking is a real weapon and we’ve needed it this year to move from our defensive 50 through to our attacking 50 and he helps with us.
“Early in the season he came to us with a hamstring injury and then got injured in rehab. We didn’t want to rush him.”
Jeka was one of the few winners for the Tigers on Saturday.
Allan said Jaelen Pavlidis got back to the defensive work they wanted from him. Unfortunately a head clash with a teammate will see him miss a few weeks with concussion.
Harry Grintell was busy in the first half in attack before having to move up the ground with lack of supply in the forward line.
Werribee now sits in 15th spot, 10 points behind the Demons, who sit in 10th spot.
This week the Tigers face Coburg at Coburg City Oval on Sunday.
Allan said the Lions enter the match in good form.
“They are fresh off the bye,” he said. “They beat Casey the week before.
“They are in good form and pushing for a finals spot.
“I would like to think we would have a better effort this week.”
