Werribee coach Scott West cited a poor attitude as the reason for his team’s 24-point loss to the Northern Blues at Visy Park on Sunday as Ben Carbonaro reports.
“If they come with a poor attitude, that’s the result they’ll get,” he said.
“Take nothing away from Northern Blues they were terrific, but obviously we didn’t take our opportunities early.
“We were in front by a reasonable margin for most of the game and could have been further up at half-time, but I thought we were just getting away with it (poor attitude).
“Attitude gets you through the whole game and if you don’t have it, you get run over, like we did.”
It was a scrappy opening with both teams struggling to get the ball inside forward 50 quickly. The Tigers held the upper hand and led by 19 points at quarter time.
The Tigers missed the opportunity to surge ahead with poor kicking for goal while the Blues kicked three goals but they still trailed by 25 points at half-time.
The Blues pounced on Werribee’s turnovers and quickly kicked two goals in five minutes to open the third term. Their relentless pressure made the going tough for the Tigers, who held a handy 20 point lead at the final break.
West would have been disappointed with the final quarter performance.
Werribee’s defence were powerless to contain the pinpoint passing from the Blues midfield into the forward line. Northern Blues piled on a staggering seven goals to just two behinds. David Ellard was the spark as he kicked three in a row to put the Blues in front for the first time in the game, after an early Nick Meese goal to open the final term. Once the Blues hit the front they never looked back, with goals to Rhys O’Keefe (1) and Dylan Buckley (2) to round out a 24 point victory.
Kyle Hartigan’s game in defence was one of few positives on a disappointing day for the Tigers and Majak Daw showed good signs including some strong marks inside the forward 50.
Cameron Pederson, Jarrod Mather, Daw and Ben Warren all kicked two goals for the Tigers.
David Ellard and Brett Thornton both kicked three goals for the Blues. Ellard was best on ground for his role in his team’s final quarter domination, recording 30 disposals as well.
The Tigers round out the home and away season with a trip to Victoria Park to face Collingwood on Saturday, while the Blues host Frankston.
Northern Blues 16.7.103 d Werribee Tigers 11.13.79
Photo: Dave Savell
Last Modified on 21/08/2012 13:53