By LIAM TWOMEY
WERRIBEE suffered another disappointing loss in the VFL on Saturday, going down to North Ballarat by 17 points.
The match had a distinctive North Melbourne flavour with both sides enjoying partial alignments with the Kangaroos in the AFL.
Despite teammates going up against teammates in some instances, there was no shortage of tough contests throughout the match.
Players were forced to deal with blustery conditions in Ballarat and it was the Roosters which settled quicker, booting four goals in the opening term to open up a 15-point lead at the first change.
Werribee struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard in the next two quarters with a combination of errant kicking in front of the big sticks and poor disposal going into the 50-metre arc allowing the margin to grow.
With the lead at 29 points at the start of the last quarter, Scott West’s men had no choice but to take the game on and they were rewarded when captain Robbie Castello kicked the opening goal of the quarter at the seven-minute mark.
However, in a deflating passage of the play, the Roosters answered within minutes to restore the gap.
Werribee wasn’t done with yet though and continued to fight on.
Jarred Moore worked hard in the middle of the ground, winning a number of 50/50 contests to ensure the Tigers remained in the hunt.
They finally started to see some reward when TAC Cup player and 19th man George Cameron booted back-to-back goals to again close the gap.
Five minutes later a clever kick from Ben Warren reduced the margin to just seven points and the Rosters under pressure.
But as they have done so many times this season, Werribee gave up a goal right when it couldn’t afford to as North Ballarat kicked a steadying major and went on to take the contest, 12. 12 (84) to 9.13 (67).
West was disappointed with his playing group’s inability to produce a four-quarter effort.
“It’s insulting really to the players themselves and each other, that they’re prepared to drag their backsides around for three quarters and then decide to play the last quarter,” he said.
“They’ve got to decide whether it means enough to them. I’m the coach and I’m part of this, but at the end of the day, they’re out there working for each other or not working for each other. We’ve got some questions to answer over the next few weeks.”
After having its round 16 fixture moved to Easter earlier in the year, Werribee’s next match will be in round 17 against Port Melbourne at Avalon Airport Oval.
