VFL wrap: West’s team heading south
Posted by Brent DiamondMay 1. 2012 5:21 pm
WERRIBEE Tigers coach Scott West cut a disappointed figure after Sunday’s seven-point loss to Williamstown at Avalon Airport Oval.
After all, his team were 39-points clear at quarter time and despite an excellent comeback from the Seagulls, they still led by 17-points at the mid-way mark of the final term.
Clearly he was proud of his players’ efforts. They had given their all. Ben Sharp was quoted as saying he has never felt more sore after a match than this one. It was a brutal contest and players were out on their feet but the end of the contest.
The sense of frustration perhaps stems from another gallant performance. It was the closest the Tigers had come against Williamstown since 2008. The Seagulls smashed the Tigers in last year’s preliminary final. Werribee has been no match until now.
“It was very disappointing. I think sometimes when you get behind you take the game on. They took the game on a little bit late,” West said.
“They got a goal from a 50m penalty and those sort of things don’t help.”
West said he would have loved to speak further regarding that 50 metre penalty handed to Jason Tutt late in the match which saw him unleash with a massive goal to kick the Seagulls into the lead. Perhaps the damage was done before that though.
Damien Bugeja was superb. He stood up with a couple of important grabs up forward and finished them off.
The Tigers appeared home when Ben Warren steered through his sixth of the match.
FINAL SCORE: Williamstown 17.8.110 def Werribee 15.13.103
A premiership contender, Werribee appears to be one that has struggled to live up to expectations early on in the season. Same goes with the Box Hill Hawks, who were extremely disappointing against Coburg on Saturday.
The Hawks – despite their long list of recruits – appeared second class in the 13-point loss. What was perhaps more worrying is that its key forwards had little effect on the match. Amos Frank (three goals) and Bradley Hill (two goals) were the Hawks top goalkickers.
Werribee and Box Hill are expected to be the next top contenders to Port Melbourne and Williamstown this season. Both teams currently have a 2-3 record after six rounds. Box Hill is seventh ahead of Werribee in eighth.
Box Hill coach Damian Carroll said after the loss to Coburg: “It’s hard to say that we didn’t make the most of our opportunities, we just didn’t get it in there enough to give them enough opportunities.”
Conversely, the Coburg Tigers are one of the real big surprises of the season. Currently in sixth position perhaps it should be further up the ladder considering its loss to Frankston last week was an abberation.
“We really under performed last week, not taking anything away from Frankston, they definitely deserved to win but to back up here today against Box Hill who had a really good win last week and play the way we did. Our contested ball and our ability to run, I was particularly pleased with in the second half,” coach Adam Potter said.
FINAL SCORE: Coburg 11.19.85 def Box Hill 10.12.72
SANDRINGHAM escaped with an 11-point win against Collingwood at Victoria Park. Despite allowing the Pies to score eight unanswered goals in the third term, it was still an impressive performance considering all the momentum was against it at the last change. The Zebras also trailed by two goals early in the final term.
Zebras coach Simon McPhee said the club still has to improve in plenty of areas.
“We’ve got a fair bit of work to do,” McPhee said.
“We’re not playing consistent footy at the moment. Obviously we had some good results in the pre-season but that’s the pre-season. We’ve just dropped off a bit but that happens with young sides. We’ve just got to get consistent with our efforts and I think once we do that, we’ll improve.”
FINAL SCORE: Sandringham 18.15.123 def Collingwood 16.16.112
GEELONG’S 86-point demolition of Bendigo Gold showed that is one of the most in-form teams in the competition. Mitch Brown’s nine-goals was the story of the night but the Cats are a genuine improver and if Orren Stephenson spends more time at VFL level, it will only help them continue their dominance.
Bendigo face a season-defining clash against Sandringham on Sunday. Lose it and already its season will be slipping away after two giant losses. The Gold need to make a statement to get its season back on track.
FINAL SCORE: Geelong 23.9.147 def Bendigo 8.13.61
NORTH Ballarat is at least off the bottom of the ladder but certainly its season is already on the line after six rounds. A one-point loss to Casey on Sunday hurts. The Roosters have been renowned for turning around their season, as they did last year. They have the bye this week and face a must win game against Coburg at home to keep their season alive.
FINAL SCORE: Casey 15.11.101 def North Ballarat 14.16.100
IF Port Melbourne can strut its stuff against Williamstown on Saturday, it is hard to see any team beating it this season. No matter how many coaches or pundits say this is an even competition, the Borough appear leaps and bounds ahead of the rest after six rounds.
Its 126-point win over the Northern Blues on Saturday was nothing short of awesome. We will await the top of the table clash against Williamstown with interest.
FINAL SCORE: Port Melbourne 26.18.174 def Northern Blues 7.6.48
Hero of the week: Damian Bugeja (Williamstown) – Two last quarter goals against the Tigers was enough to swing the match in Williamstown’s favour.
Villain (s) of the week: Essendon-listed players in VFL – Where was the leadership in a young Bendigo team on Friday night? Travis Colyer, Kyle Reimers et al went missing at important stages. Bendigo is falling over because of it.
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