Werribee made a statement on Saturday, smashing Collingwood by 109 points at Avalon Airport Oval to cement themselves in the top four ahead of the second half of the season, as Adem Saricaoglu reports.
In their fourth-straight win after going down to Williamstown by seven points in round six, the Tigers were clinical from start to finish as they dismantled a heavily undermanned Collingwood outfit, kicking at least six goals in every quarter while keeping the Magpies to just 10 for the game.
“It was one of those days you dream of as a coach,” Werribee coach Scott West said after the game.
“It was a pleasing effort that we were able to do it right from the first bounce, which was a real focus of ours because obviously we had the break last week and we just needed to get back on the horse real quick.”
Collingwood was forced to play three quarters of the game without captain Kris Pendlebury after he landed awkwardly in a marking contest midway through the first quarter, but coach Tarkyn Lockyer said he was OK after the game.
“He was coughing up a little bit of blood, so it was just precaution more than anything,” Lockyer said.
“He’s just gone home and he’s right.”
Robbie Tarrant was the star up forward for Werribee with a brilliant display of contested marking that netted five goals, while in-form forward Ben Warren kicked six.
Former West Coast Eagle Ben McKinley also chimed in with four goals as Werribee’s forward line fired without suspended big man Lachlan Hansen.
West said Hansen’s absence may well have been an advantage for the Tigers going forward.
“Sometimes they can get in each other’s way and probably not be as effective as they are when there’s one less of them,” West said.
“Taz (Tarrant) was able to have the main focus as the tall forward without Lachie there, so sometimes they can benefit from the other one not being there. But look he was terrific and Benny Warren and Benny McKinley have been great all year.”
The Tigers’ 26 goals were shared between 12 individual goal kickers, an increasingly common feature of Werribee’s season West says is important.
“I know there was a lot of a goals kicked today but to have multiple goal kickers is a real strength of any team I think because it’s hard to know who to stop.
“I think the flexibility in where you can play your players is a real bonus.”
Warren broke the early first quarter deadlock at the six-minute mark before the Tigers got out to a 28-point quarter time lead.
He then kicked another three goals as Werribee kept Collingwood goalless in the second term, and by halftime their lead was extended to 68.
Collingwood came out firing straight after the main break, with Jonathon Ceglar and Jackson Paine both scoring goals within the first four minutes.
However Werribee quickly wrested control of the footy and piled on another eight majors to Collingwood’s two after Paine’s goal.
By three-quarter time Tarrant was equal with Warren on the goals tally with four as the Tigers bolstered their lead to 93.
It took just four minutes into the last quarter for Werribee to crack the ton when Warren kicked his fifth goal to put the Tigers 101 points up.
Paine temporarily brought the margin back to double figures, but goals to Ben Speight and Malcolm Lynch ensured the final margin was three figures at the final siren.
West said it was important his side produced a four-quarter effort.
“I think we needed to set the scene early, and we didn’t just pick it up in the second half or midway through the second quarter, it was right from the start,” he said.
“They came at us a couple of times, obviously early after halftime, but look the consistency was there for four quarters.”
Lockyer struggled to take many positives out of the game.
“From our point of view the first half was really disappointing, we went into the game with a plan and none of it worked,” Lockyer said.
“Their bigger bodies, their ability to work into space and then their ability to use the footy was amazing, and particularly that last kick inside 50 I thought was unbelievable.”
Just 14 of the 22 Magpies that ended Port Melbourne’s unbeaten run in Round 8 fronted up against the Tigers, but Lockyer said that was no excuse for Saturday’s effort.
“We’re not making any excuses because we think our VFL list is strong, I just thought we got beaten in the fundamentals of footy.”
Photo: Damian Visentini
Last Modified on 05/06/2012 14:50