By LIAM TWOMEY
WERRIBEE secured a home Victorian Football League elimination final with a 48-point win against the Northern Blues on Sunday. The Tigers were forced to fight during the early stage of the match as the Blues made the better start when they kicked the first goal through Adam Marcon.
It didn’t take the Werribee players long to find their feet though and when Jordan Gysberts found Kieran Harper with a pass inside 50, the Tigers were on the board for their first.
Key forwards Ben McKinley and Ben Brown then came to the party with both kicking goals in the lead up for quarter time to give Werribee a nine-point lead at the break.
A wasteful Tigers outfit had chances to take the game away from the Blues in the second quarter but errant kicking kept the home side in the contest.
After leading by 23 points at the main break, Werribee blew the game apart during an outstanding third term which sealed the win.
The Tigers booted 8.3 to Carlton’s 0.2. There was no coming back for the Blues with the final scores showing Werribee 17.16 (118) to Carlton 10.10 (70).
Robbie Castello, Addam Maric, Brown and McKinley were all outstanding on the Tigers’ forward line and finished the match with three goals each.
Around the ground, North Melbourne listed player Daniel Currie was outstanding in the ruck while Jarred Moore continued his outstanding season with another near best-on-ground performance.
For Carlton Nick Duigan and Sam Rowe kicked two goals each while David Ellard was among the club’s best players.
The result has Werribee in fifth spot on the VFL ladder with a 10/7 win/loss record for the season.
It is unlikely the Tigers will be able to climb any higher than that with the club trailing fourth-placed Williamstown by four points and 14 percentage points.
In its final game of the home-and-away season Werribee will take on Collingwood at Victoria Park.
Depending on results, the Tigers’ first round finals opponent could be any of Collingwood, Port Melbourne, Essendon, Northern Blues or North Ballarat.
