The forward, back and ruckman picked up 29 disposals and was named in the bests for the Tigers. As he continues his quest to break back into the North Melbourne side, Pedersen told kangaroos.com.au he is focusing on a variety of skills and hopes a recall comes soon.
His partnership with an impressive Majak Daw (13 disposals, 22 hitouts, 2 goals) is also blossoming and in the Werribee rooms post-game, Pedersen underlined the importance of their partnership.
“Maj is the number one ruck and then he goes forward when I head into the ruck. He tends to be a better tap ruckman while I can probably get a bit more of the ball around the ground. He’s really good one-on-one down forward and a dangerous match-up.”
Like most AFL-aligned players in the second tier competition, Pedersen is staying positive and knows only consistent performances for Werribee will get him back into Kangaroos' colours.
“It is hard at times because when you’re not in the ones you really want to play well and keep your form up. Even if you’re playing well the guys above are playing well, and then if you don’t play well you end up a bit further back than you’d like.
"But it's a great position to be in as far as the club goes. We've got a really healthy list at North and there are plenty of guys keeping the pressure on for spots. I'm happy to be doing what I can to make us better overall."
In the defence, Ayden Kennedy (18 disposals, 8 handball receives) and Brad Mangan (16 disposals, 7 marks) were steady in the back half even with a lack of forward entries to deal with.
Malcolm Lynch picked up 17 disposals and kicked 2 goals playing on the wing and further forward. Development coach John Lamont titled his game as ‘lively’ and reserved special praise for countless good pressure efforts.
Ben McKinley (15 disposals, 3 goals) was his usual consistent self providing a threat deep in the Werribee forward line with five shots on goal while Ben Warren (14 disposals) had an uncharacteristically quiet game with just the solitary goal, yet still worked his way into the game playing further up the ground than normal.
Ben Speight moved to a wing in the second half and played his part with 21 disposals. Despite the stat sheet crediting Will Sierakowski with only 18 disposals, Lamont ‘really enjoyed his game on the wing’, and called some of his passages of play ‘real AFL quality stuff’.
“We had nine blokes in the team (North-listed players) and they all contributed to a really solid win,” Lamont added.
Werribee 5.1.31, 11.5.71, 14.10.94, 20.13.133
Casey 2.3.15, 4.4.28, 5.5.35, 8.7.55
Bests
Werribee: Ablett, Ross, Daw, Pedersen, Kennedy, Sierakowski
Casey: Riseley, Couch, Fitzpatrick, Williams, Page, Clay
Goals
Werribee: Ablett 4, McKinley 3, Daw 2, Lynch 2, Warren, Sherlock, Bolton, Ruggles, Sierakowski, Mather, Sharp, Moloney, Speight
Casey: Fitzpatrick 2, Williams 2, Cook 2, Smith, Page
