When you’ve won the past nine encounters against your opponents, a 10th straight victory shouldn’t surprise too many.
But the ease at which Williamstown swept aside arch rivals Werribee yesterday had eye-brows raising right across the Peter Jackson VFL, writes David O'Neill.
The Seagulls were ruthless on the way to an 83-point thumping, 19.15 (129) to 5.16 (46), enhancing their reputation as a premiership contender this season.
Bulldogs-listed utility Patrick Veszepremi had the game of his life, with 37 disposals, three goals and several meandering runs that made his opponents look like witches hats.
While the Tigers had few winners apart from young ruckman Ben Brown, who floated forward to take a handful of contested marks, Veszpremi had mates galore.
Captain Ben Jolley racked up possessions at will and also finished with three goals, while live-wire Stephen McCallum, ruckman Cameron Wood and key forward Fletcher Roberts each bagged three of their own.
The only sour note for the hosts was a hip injury to Tom Williams, who left the ground in the opening quarter and never reappeared.
In front of their home fans, the Seagulls jumped out of the blocks with six unanswered goals in the first term, mastering the strong cross-breeze and reducing their opponents to on-lookers at times.
The Tigers lifted their work-rate in the second quarter thanks to Kieran Harper and Jordan Gysberts, who won their share of the clearances, but the damage had been done.
A 41-point half time lead swelled to 74 points at the last change as the Seagulls’ stingy back six ensured the Tigers posted a goalless quarter for the second time in the match.
Despite adding three more goals to add some respectability to the scoreboard, the Tigers continued to be outclassed in the final term as Willie Wheeler and Veszpremi led the Seagulls to the easiest of victories.
Mark Austin and Lukas Markovic completely blanketed dangerous Tigers’ pair Ben Warren and Scott Clouston, while Michael Talia collected 22 possessions and a running goal off half back.
Williamstown coach Peter German offered high praise for the trio but said his whole defensive unit were outstanding.
“You add in (Stephen) Witkowski, (Jack) Charleston, (Cameron) Lockwood, and Leigh Masters when he played back there, everyone of them was terrific in the way they went about their footy,” he said.
Despite his obvious pleasure at the huge win, German said the scoreboard didn’t reflect the true difference between the two sides.
“I would think, knowing Westy (Scott West) and Werribee, it wouldn’t be a game they’d repeat too often.”
“Although the scoreboard reflected a big win, if you look our players’ gps (data) they covered a lot of ground and were made to work really hard.”
Werribee mentor Scott West said his side was completely outworked by their opponents.
“We get six days before we get a chance to come back and do it again and sometimes that gives you your true form line,” West said.
“You can have one of those days, and we all do as teams and individuals, so next week will be interesting and answer a lot of those questions.
“Bottom line is if we don’t work hard and care for each, and stick to the processes then you can fall apart pretty quickly.”
The Tigers must regroup in a hurry before tackling Sandringham on Saturday in the ABC TV game while the Seagulls travel to Casey for what’s looming as the match of the round under lights at Casey Fields.
Last Modified on 22/04/2013 12:21