Tara Murray
Werribee will review this year’s Victorian Football League season with mixed thoughts after it came to a close on Saturday.
After falling out of the finals equation on the back of four straight losses after the second last round, Werribee released the pressure in the final round with a 29.17 (191)-0.10 (10) win against the Northern Bullants.
Werribee coach Michael Barlow said it was a good way to finish the season. He said the group had been left disappointed knowing they hadn’t achieved finals.
“It’s nice to finish on a winning note,” he said. “The feeling in the group though there is a bit more to give beyond this weekend, but our wins and losses didn’t stack up.
“We were wound up pretty tight after four weeks on the back of close losses, When the finals equation was gone we loosened up.
Barlow said while they ran away with the game in the second half, it was the first half where they did the damage.
He said they tried some different things.
“We started really well and attacked the ball around the contest which is really important for us,“ he said.
“The centre bounce clearances have been an issue for the main part of the season. We threw in a different look.
“Emmanuel Ajang was on debut and won the first two centre clearances. We got a bit of variety into the side.
“The second half we ran away with it. The first half we made a real emphasis on the contest and that is where we set it up.”
Shaun Mannagh kicked six goals in the win, while Kye Declase kicked five goals from the wing.
It was a couple of the younger players who stood out the most to Barlow.
“Sam Paea copped a corkie early in the game and had the opportunity to come off, but he soldiered through.
“Emmanuel making his debut through the middle and I think had the most amount of clearances along with Tom Gribble.
“They came in and gave us a bit of variety for beyond this year.”
The win resulted in Werribee finishing the season in 10th spot. Having lost several games by under two goals cost the side a chance playing finals.
“We will rue the missed opportunities,” he said.
“But we respect the competition as well. You look at that seven AFL-aligned clubs are playing finals and when they play their best football they have a strong contingent that are going to win a lot of games.
“Southport [the other team in finals] we strive to be to want to be like them. They have a lot of top end talent and they are highly talented.
“We finished 10th with a percentage which was the fifth best in the competition.”
Barlow said they would take other things out of the season.
He said the results showed that they weren’t that far off the top teams. He said one of the main areas they would look to work on in the off seasons was how to finish off games.
While the season is over, the work is far from over behind the scenes.
“It doesn’t really stop,” he said. “List management meeting today to look at our list for next year.
“Ideally we want to sit down and look to plan with the players the next few weeks.
“We’ll look to have a pre-season training and primarily work with the guys that are already on the list.
“We have to improve them for next season. Some will be by two per cent, five per cent, 10 per cent and even 20 per cent.”
