RELATED: Roosters' Report Card
Match result: Werribee 8.8.56 defeated Box Hill 6.15.51
Venue: City Oval, Box Hill
Conditions: Best described as a typical Melbourne day
In action
- Daniel Currie (17 disposals, 7 marks, 5 tackles)
- Majak Daw (5 disposals, 3 marks, 1 goal)
- Will Fordham (11 disposals, 3 tackles)
- Scott McMahon (11 disposals, 4 marks, 4 tackles)
- Ed Vickers-Willis (11 disposals, 6 marks)
- Eric Wallace (14 disposals, 25 hit-outs)* - Development League
NMFC.com.au's best: Daniel Currie
Match-ups
- Daniel Currie & Majak Daw v David Hale (ruck)
- Majak Daw v Thomas Gordon (forward)
- Ed Vickers-Willis v James Sicily
- Scott McMahon v Tim O’Brien
What the coach said – John Lamont
Quarter Time
Werribee 3.1.19 v Box Hill 1.4.10
“We want to be doing the simple basic things over and over again, better than the opposition.
“We need to keep building on it. Let’s compete hard and have a common sense approach when we have the ball.”
Three Quarter Time
Werribee 7.6.48 v Box Hill 3.11.29
“Good tackle numbers, you know they want to possess the ball. Controlled pressure and most importantly look forward to the challenge.
“Play your role and stick to it and you’ll win the game.”
Story of the game
Heavy rain overnight and early on Sunday conspired to make Werribee’s clash with Box Hill a wet-weather encounter. The centre square became a mud bath for any player who left their feet, and with that in mind, it was no surprise fans were treated to a low-scoring match.
The second quarter was goalless as Werribee defended stoutly and were let off the hook by several Hawks’ misses. When the visitors skipped away to a 19-point lead at the final change, it appeared they were comfortably on the way to their third consecutive victory.
However Box Hill had other ideas and stormed home, taking the lead in time-on of the fourth quarter. But just as quick as they’d surrendered the lead, the Tigers bounced back, goaling through Dylan Reid.
There was one last twist in the tale as Box Hill, trailing by six points, won a free kick as time expired 40 metres out from goal. The shot sailed wide though and Werribee triumphed by five points to move to 3-1 on the season.
Points of interest
1. In conditions not suited for big men, Daniel Currie turned in a performance that senior development coach Gavin Brown described as ‘best-on-ground today, without a doubt.’
“The Werribee match committee were absolutely thrilled with him, he marked the football like it was a dry day,” Brown explained.
“They were pack marks, in the wet – it was incredible really. Even his follow-up stuff in the ruck was outstanding, laying tackle after tackle. For a big man to be tremendous both in the ruck and on the ground was a pretty special day really.”
2. Ed Vickers-Willis was unable to finish the match due to a knock on his shoulder in the third quarter. However, before that he was excellent playing on the AFL-listed James Sicily.
“We were really pleased with him,” Brown said.
“He did a terrific job on Sicily. He played the percentages really well, he used the footy really well and he defended really well on a good player.
“It was really good for him to play on someone like that and perform so well.”
3. It was a case of close, but not quite for Majak Daw playing down forward for the majority of the afternoon.
“He competed pretty well, but he dropped a couple of marks in amongst taking a couple of beauties and kicking a really good goal from the boundary.
“The ones he dropped he probably should have taken because he got hands on them – if he had have taken them he would have ended with quite a good day.”
Next week
Werribee v Williamstown; Sunday May 17, 2:00pm at Avalon Airport Oval
* Exact stats unavailable at time of publishing.
