By Tara Murray
Dom Brew was the hero as Werribee had to dig deep to come away with the points in its Victorian Football League clash with Port Melbourne.
It was a low scoring affair with both teams struggling to find put on any real scoreboard pressure.
After leading by 19 points at three quarter time, the Tigers found themselves behind after Port Melbourne kicked the first three goals of the final quarter.
Enter Brew.
He kicked a goal at the 28 minute mark for his side to take back the lead, before scoring his second three minutes later to seal the 7.7 (49)-5.11 (41) win.
Tigers coach Jimmy Allan said it was one that they were happy to win.
“It was a pretty dour match and got played between the arcs,” he said. “The wind favoured one end but it didn’t result on the scoreboard.
“We had the game on our terms in the first half and then they had a real crack at us. We didn’t handle it as well as we could have so we’ll take lessons from that.”
Allan said they defended really well in the first quarter before putting themselves in a good position at half time before 19 points having kicked the only three goals of the match.
He said they were in a good position in the second half, before a late goal to Port Melbourne gave it some hope heading into the final.
“They came at us,” Allan said. “We then had to come from behind with classy goals from Brewy.
“The boys have shown in my time, not so much this year, they keep finding a way to win games like this.
“We’ve turned a corner in the last few weeks in terms of being hungry.”
It was Brew who stood up when the moment was needed when his side was under the pump.
As well as kicking two goals, he had 30 possessions, seven tackles and 13 clearances.
Louis Pinnuck had 29 disposals in defence and was really good in the first half, while Jesse Clark and Ryan Eyers were again really good in defence.
Allan said they had really improved defensively the last few weeks after being easy to score against for a few weeks.
Hudson Garoni provided a contest in the forward line, while Jack Riding has returned to form.
Sam Azzi played his best game of the season.
The win was the Tigers fifth of the season and they now sit in 10th spot after 10 rounds.
Allan said they were slowly getting there.
“It’s no excuse but we’ve had a huge amount of turnover of players,” he said. “There’s only six players left from our 2023 grand final side.
“We lost a couple more during the week. It’s made it challenging for us and we are nowhere near where we need to get to.
“We’re acclimatising to the way we want to play.”
It was a big week for the Tigers off the field with Zac Banch and Flynn Young being picked up in the AFL mid-season draft by North Melbourne and Carlton respectively.
Allan said while they were really happy for the pair to achieve their dream it does make it hard for the club.
He said he would have loved to have had the pair on the field on Sunday.
“You can’t replace those guys in June,” he said. “Hendo [Jack Henderson] in February.
“I hope Banchy and Youngy get a fair crack at it and it leaves a hole for us. It’s an opportunity for others to step up.
“We’ll still have a crack and still be competitive.”
The Tigers this week face North Melbourne on Saturday afternoon at 1.05pm at Avalon Airport Oval.
Allan said the Kangaroos were in good form.
“We have may Banchy play against us which will be interesting,” he said. “He said he was going to tell new team about our game plan and I joked that he didn’t even understand it himself.”
