AFTER a patchy start to the 2012 season, the Werribee Tigers have run into solid form over the past month and are on track for another finals assault.
The Tigers’ season started brilliantly, with an emphatic 35-point win over North Ballarat – at Eureka Stadium, no less – announcing to the competition that despite losing some players over the summer, they were going to pose a significant threat.
Captain Dominic Gleeson’s defection to Geelong was not ideal, and they also lost experienced senior players such as Michael Rockefeller and James Saker.
They didn’t land any big names in recruiting over the off-season, but the time they have
put into developing younger players such as
Tom Ruggles, Kyle Hartigan, Brad Mangan and the like has given them depth and produced results.
Former Kangaroo Ben Ross has been stellar.
The win against the Roosters was followed up by two frustrating losses – one to competition powerhouse Port Melbourne at North Port Oval, and then a seven-goal loss to Box Hill at home.
Preliminary finalists against all the odds in 2011 – they finished fifth with a 10-8 record – a 1-2 start under new coach Scott West had punters wondering if Werribee could match it with the best in the competition.
There has been a pattern of inconsistency at the club over recent years, a feeling that the Tigers at their best could beat any team, but a lack of four-quarter efforts over the journey has cost them at times.
But the bye in round four was a godsend. Since then, Werribee has lost only one game – against Williamstown at home, by seven points.
It has been undoubtedly the most frustrating of the club’s three losses this year, given it led by a remarkable 39 points at quarter-time, a lead that was cut to four by the final break.
Wins against Geelong (37 points), Coburg (51), Frankston (33) and the Northern Blues (14) have been encouraging, although the cellar-dwelling Blues almost came back to take victory against a much more experienced Tigers outfit in round nine.
Werribee sits fifth with five wins and three losses. If it can continue the form it’s found in the past month, it will make the finals and could go deep into September. The run home isn’t easy – away games against Bendigo, Williamstown and Box Hill – but with the players starting to gel under West, there are good signs ahead.
