WERRIBEE Tigers were cool in a pressure-filled environment as they staved off a late fightback from Geelong Cats and kicked for a second time to claim a well-earned 37-point victory on Friday night at Avalon Airport Oval in the Victorian Football League.
The Tigers reversed their slow starting trend to boot seven of the first eight goals of the match, but the Cats clawed their way back after half-time to twice get within three points before the home side steadied for a precious four competition points. Tigers coach Scott West was certainly not playing down the importance of the game in the lead-up.
“We made it pretty clear internally that we wanted to get equal with the ledger,” he said, after the Tigers squared the season at 2-2.
“You don’t want to fall too far behind the front runners, so it was an important game for us and to get the result is terrific.”
It was the Tigers’ first regular season win since West’s first match in charge back on March 24.
Almost a month had passed but the win came as no surprise after the Tigers returned to form with a 133-point trouncing of the Burnie Dockers in the Foxtel Cup a week earlier.
West, like so many other coaches in the VFL, has the unenviable task of having to his mesh his Tigers regulars with North Melbourne-aligned players, which change in personnel on a weekly basis.
The first-year coach says tone of his hardest tasks was to get a significant amount of game time into his players as a group and found the 120 minutes against the Dockers to be priceless after entering on the back of two consecutive home-and-away losses. “I don’t think the players were in any doubt or getting bogged down by two losses in a row,” West said.
The Tigers were ferocious from the outset against the Cats with the three Bens – Ben Ross, Ben Sharp and Ben Speight – setting the tone with their work around the stoppages.
Jack Purton-Smith was a valuable contributor in his first VFL senior game for the Tigers with three goals.
Sam Gibson and Robbie Tarrant each kicked three goals apiece for the Tigers with Ben McKinley and Robbie Castello adding two each.
The Tigers will set their sights on arch-enemy Williamstown, who they entertain at Watton Street on Sunday at 2pm.
West acknowledged the rich history and importance of victory in an ‘eight-point game’, but it will be “business as usual” for his team.
“It is a big game but it’s just another one of those games where we have to play well against a good opposition,” he said.
VFL SCOREBOARD
Seniors: Werribee Tigers 17.10 (112) d Geelong Cats 10.15 (75). Werribee – Goals: J Purton-Smith, R Tarrant, S Gibson 3, B McKinley, R Castello, B Ross 2, T Tuck, B Warren. Best: B Ross, B Sharp, S Gibson, B Speight, K Hartigan, W Sierakowski.
