WERRIBEE Districts scored a last-man-standing type win over Old Ivanhoe to steer itself further away from the dreaded Victorian Amateur Football Association Premier B relegation zone.
The Tigers had been decimated by injuries and call-ups to Victorian Football League club Werribee Tigers to the point where they went into the clash with the bottom side as underdogs.
The inexperienced Tiger cubs produced a scintillating “sink or swim” performance to win by 58 points at Soldiers Reserve on Saturday.
“It was a great win for us,” Tigers coach Kirk Norton said.
“The young kids all put their hands up.
“It keeps us close to the top four and also means we’re three games out of the relegation zone.”
The Tigers fielded nine players from the under-19 team last season who were
forced to accelerate their learning curve because of the dearth of personnel.
“They’ve been in most of the year,” Norton said.
“We haven’t been able carry them or nurture them.”
The positives to come out of fast-tracking the youngsters for the Tigers is that they get a chance to see the future before their eyes.
The side has been able to replenish its list without having to look for external players to include in the side.
“One thing about youth, they bring enthusiasm,” Norton said. “It’s rejuvenated the whole list.
“It’s not the perfect scenario but we’ve thrown the kids into the deep end and while they might have paddled at times they haven’t sunk.”
The Tigers got on with the business of piling more pressure on relegation-threatened Ivanhoe by jumping out of the gates with a five-goals-to-one opening term.
They were never headed, with their only real concern being shocking inaccuracy when kicking for goal, resulting in a worse than 50 per cent conversion rate.
Chris Molivas continued his fine form with three goals, while there were multiples to Bol Kolang and Adam Alifraco.
Adam Morrow and Aaron Taylor were used as stop-gap defenders with co-captain Morrow relishing his time down back so much that he claimed best-on-ground honours.
The leadership of Wayne Pelar and the other co-captain Troy Anderson came to the fore. If the young Tigers were in the deep end of the pool against Old Ivanhoe they will be thrown into an ocean when they travel to top-two St Kevin’s and University Blacks in the next two rounds.
VAFA SCORES:
Premier B: Werribee Districts 15.16 (106) d Old Ivanhoe 7.6 (48)
Division 3: Old Westbourne 8.6 (54) lt St Francis Xavier 10.12 (72)
Division 4: Swinburne University 16.12 (108) d Point Cook 15.10 (100)
