When Matt Munro kicked the Werribee Tigers’ second goal in as many minutes at the start of the second quarter, the scoreboard at Etihad Stadium showed a 20-point Tigers lead.
Then the sloppiness crept into the Tigers game, followed by the injuries and, before you knew it, Collingwood was back into the game and began laying the foundations for a runaway 32-point win in the Victorian Football League on Saturday evening.
“It was just a mixed bag of stuff, bad execution and pressure from the opposition,” Tigers coach John Lamont said.
“We just turned the ball over a few times and let them back in.”
Four unanswered goals to Collingwood in 13 minutes midway through the second term began the unravelling for Werribee.
Had they been able to keep their 20-point buffer heading into the second half, the Tigers might have been able to better absorb the injuries that came their way, but they went into half-time trailing by three points.
With captain Michael Sodomaco ruled out before half-time with a hip injury, followed by a game-ending ankle injury to Dom Brew and corked thighs to Ryley Barrack and Kurt Aylett, the Tigers did not have the manpower required to run out the game.
The Tigers gave it their best shot in the second half, producing some nice passages of play in the pristine indoor conditions, working hard and having some players win their direct battles, but the lack of rotations eventually took their toll.
“All credit to Collingwood, of course, but we did run out of soldiers a bit,” Lamont said.
“They skipped away at the end and had a comfortable win on the scoreboard.”
Dane McFarlane was Werribee’s best. He thrived as a running defender in Sodomaco’s absence with an efficient 17 possessions, five marks and three tackles. It was acts that did not show on the stat sheet that impressed Lamont the most.
“He defended well and that’s where his game starts,” Lamont said. “He provided some good run and rebound.”
Tristan Xerri was loaned out by the Western Jets to fill the big man void left by the elevated Todd Goldstein.
Xerri trained with Werribee on Thursday and Lamont said he was understandably nervous. Those nerves were not so evident come game day as the debutant collected eight disposals to go with 21 hit-outs.
“He battled manfully in his first VFL game,” Lamont said.
“It was a hell of a challenge for him, a big opportunity rucking against genuine big fellas at Etihad Stadium, but he did a good job.”
Matt Hanson kept up his high standards with 21 disposals and nine tackles, while Tom Gribble finished with a game-high 30 disposals.
Lachie Hansen put his hand up for a recall to the North Melbourne side with three goals, while young tall Ben McKay also impressed with 16 possessions and 11 marks.
It sets up a massive western derby for Werribee when it visits high flying Williamstown on Sunday.
The Tigers are clinging to eighth spot and cannot afford to do too much wrong in the final three rounds if they plan on reaching the finals before their VFL-AFL alignment is split.
“Our last three games are all massive,” Lamont said.
“We’ve won a few times now when we weren’t favoured to, so hopefully over the next three weeks we can nail two of these games.”
Meanwhile, Werribee’s development league team had a rousing 20-point win over Box Hill Hawks at Box Hill City Oval on Sunday.
Two weeks earlier, the Tigers lost to the same team at the same venue by a whopping 119 points.
After the injury toll in the seniors, there could be some development league players in line for a promotion for the clash with Williamstown at Burbank Oval.
