By Tara Murray
It was a frustrating start to Werribee’s Victorian Football League title defence as it fell short in the grand final rematch with Southport on Saturday.
The two sides have played in some close matches the past couple of years and round one was no different.
The Sharks extra polish proved to be the difference as they came away with a 13.11 (89)-10.11 (71) to get some small revenge for last year’s grand final defeat.
Tigers coach Jimmy Allan said it was a bit frustrating watching on the sidelines.
“It was our own errors on the weekend and it makes it hard to swallow a little bit,” he said. “Upon reflection we did a lot of things right and we’re confident the way we will play will stack up each week.”
The Tigers headed up to Queensland with a very different line up to the one that tasted success on that one day in September.
There were nine debutants playing for Werribee, with many of the families also making the trip up to Queensland.
Myles McCluggage, Jackson Grundy, Brady Wright, Ben Kellett and Noah Tullio made their VFL debuts, while Ryan Eyers, Jake Lohmann, Jedd Longmire and Mace Cousins made their Werribee debuts having crossed to the club in the off season.
Allan said it was good for them to all get their chance to step out with the side after good pre-seasons.
“Nine debutants got to experience this level,” he said. “With the turnover of players we know we’ll be nowhere near our best until later in the year.”
Allan said they were in a position to win the game, with the margin at one point 16 minutes into the last quarter.
The Sharks kicked the last three goals of the game as rain started to fall to ensure they got the four points.
Allan said there were moments in the middle two quarters which would have made things look very different on the scoreboard.
“We squandered a lot of scoring opportunities in the second quarter,” he said. “We could have had a substantial lead.
“In the third quarter we made a lot of errors inside 50 that led to turnovers which led to it going down the other end and them scoring.
“There were a couple of two goal turnarounds. Sometimes it was 20 metres kicks, where we didn’t execute the fundamentals when we weren’t under great pressure.”
Jack Riding had 28 possessions and 10 clearances, while Dom Brew had 26 possessions and eight clearances in the middle of the ground.
Brady Wright in his VFL debut kicked three goals, while Flynn Young and Bior Malual kicked two goals each.
Allan said Wright gave them a good target down forward, while Ryan Eyers was strong down back.
Harry Grintell played in a new position as a running defender, Malual on a wing and Young were the other standouts according to the coach.
Allan said the win was the only thing they didn’t get out of the weekend that they wanted. He said as a new group it was good to get on the road early in the season and further get to know each other, which they were able to do.
Werribee is back in action on Saturday against Essendon at the NEC Hangar.
Allan said it would be another good test for them.
