Werribee’s Wayne Pelar tries to burst through a pack during the Tigers’ big win on Saturday. 83481_03 Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI
By LIAM TWOMEY
A BLISTERING nine-goal first half from the Werribee Districts set up a 58-point win against Old Ivanhoe in the Victorian Amateur Football Association on Saturday.
The Tigers launched out of the blocks quickly, booting five goals to one in the first quarter to open up a 24-point lead at the break.
The news only got worse for Old Ivanhoe as Werribee continued to dominate the contest, winning all four quarters during the 15.16 (106) to 7.6 (48) thrashing.
In total, 11 Tigers kicked goals in the win that impressed senior coach Kirk Norton.
“It was a pretty big game for us in the scheme of the season because it keeps us in touch with the top four, but it also takes us two or three games away from the possibility of being relegated, so it was really important,” he said.
“We have been struggling a little bit with injury for about the last five or six weeks. We have had up to 12 of our starting 22 unavailable and a lot of our guys have been getting games for Werribee in the VFL.
“We wanted to get off to a good start after losing our first three games at home, so we were pretty focused on making sure we did the right things early, with maintaining the pressure and all that sort of stuff which the players did. They were fantastic.”
Werribee captain Adam Morrow continued his outstanding season for the Tigers in a best on ground performance.
However, it wasn’t in his traditional role through the midfield, with Morrow forced to play down back to cover for a number of injured players.
“He (Morrow) has been fantastic and he is a great leader around the club. He is very well respected and he just gets the job done,” Norton said.
“Normally he will play in the midfield for us, but because of all the injuries we had to play him back.
“The difficulty that we have is that we have got four or five players back, but then we have lost another four or five. To the playing group’s credit they turned things around last week.”
The result sees Werribee move to seventh on the Premier B ladder with a 4-6 win/loss record this season. This week they will take on second-placed St Kevins in a must-win match as the Tigers aim to keep their finals hopes alive.
