Hurry … Werribee’s Ben Sharp looks to get a quick kick away. 65639 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By Michael Esposito
WERRIBEE missed an opportunity to topple the undefeated Port Melbourne when it went down to the ladder leaders by 19 points at TEAC Oval on Saturday.
The Tigers played some of their best footy of the year to kick four unanswered goals in the third term and hit the front, but a silly turnover cost them a goal and handed the momentum back the Borough’s way.
Werribee coach Paul Satterley said the raw statistics showed Werribee had he game for the taking, but failed to convert opportunities into a winning score.
“It’s probably a game we should have won,” he said.
“We had more scoring shots, more inside 50s. It just shows when we’re on the job we can be an effective team but we probably just didn’t take full advantage of those inside 50s and squandered some opportunities to kick goals.
“Against a team like Port Melbourne you obviously need to take all of those half-chances.”
With Cam Pedersen getting the call-up to North Melbourne, Ben McKinley impressed as the main forward target and bagged six goals. McKinley made his debut for North Melbourne in round one but has played for Werribee or been out injured since.
“He works really hard up and down the ground and he’s continually presenting,” Satterley said. “Hopefully it’s a win-win, he plays well for us and he gets an opportunity at AFL level because he’s been really good.”
Satterley said the team’s performance proved his side could compete with the best teams without the likes of Pedersen, who this season has been a key to Werribee’s forward set-up.
With Port Melbourne eight points up at three-quarter-time and Werribee’s forwards looking threatening, the game was in the balance, but Werribee only kicked 2.5 to Port Melbourne’s 5.3 in the last quarter.
Leigh Harding missed two attempts on goal he usually would have got, and was punished by a more clinical Port Melbourne in the final stages of the game.
“We walked away thinking we can be a really good side but again that’s all just back to consistency. It’s been a little bit up and down all year,” Satterley said.
“I did appreciate our effort. You can just tell after the game and at the quarter-time breaks, you just look at the players’ faces and you can just see that they’re hurting. When your players are hurting like that you know that you’re getting effort.”
Another solid performance by former Hawthorn player Travis Tuck, in his third game for the Tigers, confirmed his immense value to the club.
Tuck produced arguably the highlight of the match in the last quarter when he shrugged off four Port Melbourne players to get free.
“That just sums up what he’s all about, he’s a bit of a crash-and-bash type player, we couldn’t be happier to have him playing in our footy side at the moment,” Satterley said.
Port Melbourne 17.9 (111) d Werribee 13.14 (92).
Goals – Port Melbourne: P. Rose 5, D. Galea 4. Werribee: B. McKinley 6, B. Mangan 2.
Best – Port Melbourne: S. Dwyer, S. Pleming. Werribee: B. McKinley, S. Wormald.
