Werribee’s Robbie Castello and Bendigo’s Lauchlan Dalgleish fight for the loose ball. 83159_06 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By MICHAEL ESPOSITO
A LACKLUSTRE Werribee paid the price for a deplorable second quarter as Bendigo put an end to the Tigers’ six-game winning streak on Saturday.
Seven straight goals to the Gold in the second term all but killed the contest at Windy Hill, and Werribee dimply didn’t have the spirit to really challenge in the second half.
Both sides had the same amount of scoring shots, but Bendigo was clearly the better side, with the final score of 17.6 (108) to 8.15 (68) a fair reflection of the game.
The Tigers’ tall forwards were struggling to get into the game in the first quarter, but captain Robbie Castello tried to take matters into his own hands with two early goals, including a 55m bomb.
Delivery into the forward line was a constant problem for Werribee all match, as Bendigo players consistently chopped off Werribee’s attacking forays.
Castello booted the first goal of the second quarter to give Werribee the lead, but it was all Bendigo after that. The home side smashed Werribee in the middle, while Matthew Little and Justin Maddern were dominant forward figures, kicking four goals apiece.
“Bendigo just had a better attitude for the contest, plain and simple,” Werribee coach Scott West said.
“We didn’t want the contest, they did. There are two things in footy – talent and attitude. We just didn’t have the right attitude.”
A visibly frustrated West shut the change rooms off to supporters while he addressed his players about their sub-par performance.
“It was a very unlike us performance, so we’ve just got to make sure we bring it every week, we just can’t pick and choose when we want to play good footy,” he said.
“We didn’t take the game on at all, we were just on our heels and went down the line. We bombed in inside 50 so it makes it very difficult for our forwards at times.
“Coming off half-back some of our guys were not hitting targets and that puts the guy receiving the ball under pressure straight away, and a couple of times they turned the ball over and went inside 50 and kicked a goal from it so we were really wasteful with the ball and really wasteful with scores on the board.
“We bombed it a bit and they had numbers back and they did tit really well. They didn’t give our forwards any chance to lead and obviously they were able to minimise the effect of our inside 50s.”
Will Martinello was stretchered off in the first quarter with a knee injury and took n further part in the game. He was wearing a knee brace after the game but the extent of the injury was unknown.
