Werribee had a one goal loss to Port Melbourne last week and were looking to rebound with a win against Frankston, who have struggled for any sort of consistency this season.
A more determined and disciplined brand of football was played by Werribee, as Frankston struggled to out muscle their opponents all over the ground.
After being consistent across the first three quarters, Tigers coach Simon Atkins asked for his charges for a dominant last quarter performance, but this wasn’t to be.
The Dolphins kicked four goals to two behinds in the last quarter and were much improved with their skills, but errors plagued the Tigers as they struggled to effectively hit targets.
Atkins attributed the loss to a poor third quarter performance.
“(The) third quarter was terrible, we should have learnt from last week,” he said.
“You can roll the stats off, but I just thought our intensity and our desire dropped off in the third quarter.”
“It really disappoints me that we didn’t learn from last week, you start to question whether you educate the players well enough.”
Atkins could draw a lot of positives despite the loss, in particular how his charges played during the first half.
“The positive was the first half, there are positives that come out of a game of footy,” he said.
“We showed a bit in the last quarter, but we caved in.”
Tigers skipper Dominic Gleeson was best on ground for his 33 disposal midfield performance as he provided plenty of midfield drive and hardness at the contest.
Atkins praised his skipper, who has been consistent with his work around the packs and leading an inconsistent side well this season.
“I don’t doubt the captain’s effort,” he said.
Rob Castello (21 disposals, 4 tackles, 4 goals) proved his versatility as he rotated between the midfield and playing as an extra forward, after Nathan Thompson didn’t play despite being named.
Michael Rockefeller (25 disposals), Ben Sharp (21 disposals, 7 tackles, 2 blocks) and Joel Magnabosco (15 disposals, 4 tackles) all were terrific with their midfield pressure and run in general.
Seven North-Melbourne listed players played in Werribee colours and Ben Ross (27 disposals, 2 goals) put his hand up to be included in the Roos team for their clash with Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.
Sam Wright was again troubled by a knee injury and took no further part in the game after the first quarter.
Werribee are out of finals contention for season 2009, but Atkins believes his charges can still be competitive.
“The strategy changes up of where we’re going, we won’t take our eye off the next opponent then there’s a bye then there’s four games,” he said.
“One of the main things is to remain really competitive and continue to improve with our young players, which has in the past helped us be really super competitive.”
Best for the Dolphins was Trent Shinners for his dominant 26 hit-out performance in the ruck.
Tory Dickson kicked five goals for the Dolphins, with flashy small forward Justin Berry chipping in with three goals.
The Werribee Reserves backed up from their win over Port Melbourne last week with a thrilling come from behind two-point victory 11.7.73 to 10.11.71
Yet another poor start from the Tigers cost them dearly as they could only manage two goals in three quarters, but this all changed come the last quarter.
A dominant nine goals to one last quarter saw the Tigers pluck an unlikely victory against a Dolphins reserves outfit that sat in third ladder position after their 22-point win over Casey Scorpions last week.
Steven Kennedy was best for his dominant 28 disposal midfield performance, while Travis Lunardi racked up 38 disposals as he got plenty of the ball everywhere he went.
David Kovacevic booted five goals to be leading goal scorer for the Tigers as he continued to prove his worth as a tall forward and ruckman.
The Tigers travel to Eureka Stadium (Northern Oval) to take on North Ballarat this Saturday.
Werribee Tigers 6.2 8.4 10.6 10.8.68
Frankston 1.2 5.4 8.4 14.7.91
Werribee Goal Kickers: R. Castello 3, B. Ross 2, B. Speight, M. Pask, D. Harris, W. Martiniello, B. Sharp
Werribee Best Players: D. Gleeson, R. Castello, M. Rockefeller, B. Sharp, J. Magnabosco, A. Obst
Frankston Goal Kickers: T. Dickson 5, J. Berry 3, M. Marigliani 2, B. Crowe, D. Whelan, A. Murray, M. Lourey
Frankston Best Players: T. Shinners, T. Dickson, J. Magner, J. Berry, M. Marigliani, N. Winterton
Stay tuned to kangaroos.com.au for full statistics of North Melbourne's aligned players.
