By Ben Carbonaro
Port Melbourne cruised into a preliminary final after it demolished the Werribee Tigers by 74 points at TEAC Oval.
Port Melbourne has been a front runner all season and new coach Gary Ayres has instilled a new sense of belief and has got the club playing a unified brand of football.
The result was beyond doubt at half-time with the Tigers showing just one goal to its name whilst their opponents had 10 majors on the board.
Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres was thrilled with his side's effort.
"Our overall evenness was the greatest please for me," Ayres told the Herald Sun.
"We just need to maintain high contributions from every individual. As long as we can get that, we are a pretty competitive side."
While Ayres was keen to emphasise the team aspect of the performance, Port Melbourne had brilliant individual players.
John Baird continued his red-hot form for 37 touches while Jonno Mullins sured-up his finals position with a four-goal haul from a forward pocket.
Werribee had a chance early in the first quarter and squandered several goal scoring oportunities. Amazingly, the Tigers and the home side both had eight scoring shots in the first term but it was the Borough with a 25-point lead.
From then on the Tigers struggled to match up against a Port Melbourne line-up that played aggressive and attacking football.
Just one goal was all the Tigers had to show for the first half and they could only manage another five across the next three quarters.
Turnovers and some poor disposal cost the Tigers dearly, who struggled to stay in the contest.
Tigers coach Simon Atkins was disappointed with the result but thought the game was not out of reach.
“I don’t think (the game) was out of reach, we were just disappointing in the way we played,” Atkins said.
“Port Melbourne were pretty good in the end, but (the game wasn’t) out of reach.”
Michael Barlow continued his purple patch of form as he compiled 28 disposals and kicked three goals.
Barlow again received plenty of praise from his coach.
“I think he just gets under the guard, you can’t ask for much more from a bloke that plays predominately forward,” Atkins said.
Robbie Castello (21 disposals, 9 tackles) and Dominic Gleeson (24 disposals) were shining midfield lights in what was a disappointing team performance.
Tigers skipper James Podsiadly was well-held by the strong Port Melbourne defence, led by Luke Livingston and Sam Pleming, as he could only managed three behinds.
Werribee Tigers now challenges Casey Scorpions in the first semi-final on Sunday, September 14 at TEAC Oval at 1.10pm.
Last Modified on 14/01/2009 18:14