SCOTT West lauded his Werribee side for “putting up a good fight” but the Tigers ultimately fell well short against Geelong in the Victorian Football League on Saturday.
Up until three-quarter-time the Tigers were right in the contest, a rematch of last year’s thrilling preliminary final last year which the Cats won by five points.
But the reigning premiers dominated the final term, booting eight goals to two to run out 55-point winners, snuffing out any hope the Tigers had of victory.
It was Werribee’s third consecutive loss.
But though the Tigers languish 12th on the ladder they are only a game and percentage out of fourth.
Played at 11am at Simonds Stadium, it was the home side that started well, kicking the first three before Werribee answered with the next four to take a four-point lead into the quarter-time break.
The lead came at a cost however, with North Melbourne-listed Daniel Currie going down in the first 10 minutes with a hand injury.
That left the task of rucking against the might of Dawson Simpson to 18-year-old Darcy Fort, whom Scott singled out for praise.
Geelong hit back with five goals in the second quarter to take a 15-point lead into half-time. By the final break that had extended to 20 points and the Cats showed with a clinical final term why they will once again push for the flag.
Nathan Vardy and George Burbury both kicked six goals for Geelong while Ben Warren and Scott Clouston had two each for the Tigers.
Jarred Moore and Ben Ross ran hard all day.
“We really put up a show until three-quarter-time,” West said.
“I was really pleased with our effort to that point.”
West admitted that the strength of AFL-listed players was hurting his side, which shares the Kangaroos affiliation with North Ballarat.
“It might sound like an excuse, but the fact is teams who have a fair few full-time footballers tend to overrun teams that don’t have as many,” he said.
“It’s having an impact in our game and it’s happening in other games across the VFL.
“We were fatigued and made some poor skill errors in the last quarter and good teams like Geelong make you pay for it.” West said his players battled on but were simply outclassed.
“It was a shame that we didn’t take some of our opportunities earlier to put on scoreboard pressure. Darcy did really well against some very good opponents and when our energy was up it made a lot of difference.”
All teams have the bye this weekend with the VFL playing the WAFL in Perth.
VFL SCOREBOARD
Geelong 21.14 (140) d Werribee 12.13 (85)
Werribee – goals: B. Warren, S. Clouston 2, R. Castello, T. McGenniss, S. Sherlock, A. Maric, M. Wood, L. Greenwood, J. Gysberts, B. Speight. Best: J. Moore, B. Ross, L. Greenwood, D. Fort, S. Sherlock, T. McGenniss.
RESERVES
Box Hill 16.6 (102) drew Werribee 15.12 (102)
Werribee – goals: C. Tudor 6, C. Williams, S. Zumbo 2, A. Eade, B. Henderson, J. Bolton, J. Purton-Smith, A. Brown. Best: C. Tudor, T. Ruggles, J. Purton-Smith, J. Bolton, B. Iles, J. Keras.
