The Werribee Tigers defeated a gallant Coburg Tigers by 24 points at Avalon Airport Oval yesterday as Ben Carbonaro reports.
It took a while for both teams to find their feet. A strong wind early in the game affected Werribee’s scoring as they kicked six behinds to go with their two goals. It was a different story for Coburg who managed three straight goals and scores were tied at 18 points each at quarter time.
Sprayed shots on goal continued to haunt Werribee’s game. The half time break saw the home team up by 2 points with a lot of work to do in the second half.
Coburg continued to work hard all over the ground and weren’t prepared to back down against their higher ranked opponents. The Werribee Tigers controlled the play for much of the quarter with slick ball movement and passing but Coburg led by two points at the final break mainly thanks to their accuracy in front of goals.
A six goals to two final quarter got Werribee over the line. Despite the best efforts of Coburg’s midfield, they were simply unable to stop Werribee’s fast and slick skills in the middle.
Tigers coach Scott West has happy to get the win over a Coburg team that didn’t give in.
“They had a real crack, full credit to them. We knew it was going to be a tough contest. We knew we just had to grind it out and obviously it (the game) opened up for us.”
North Melbourne’s Ben McKinley was solid booting five goals for the Tigers and fellow Roo Malcolm Lynch was best for his speedy midfield performance, especially in the final quarter.
The athleticism of Majak Daw was again impressive as he took some strong marks and kicked a superb goal after roving his own ball from a ruck contest against giant Richmond listed ruckman Andrew Browne.
West was particularly impressed with McKinley and his combination with fellow forward forward Ben Warren.
“He and Warren worked really well together, great clubmen for this club. They are Kangaroos listed players but what you ask them to do, they do to the letter.”
Luke Cartelli kicked three goals and midfielder Willie Wheller was best for Coburg.
Next for the Tigers is a traditional Western Derby clash against Williamstown at Burbank Oval on Sunday and action gets under way at 2pm.
Photo: Dave Savell
Last Modified on 16/07/2012 16:59