WOORINEN put the first notch in their win column on Saturday afternoon with a 32-point win over a gallant Nyah-Nyah West United.
The margin, in the end, flattered the Tigers, with the Demons not only showing significant signs of improvement on last season, but at times outplaying the reigning premiers both in general play and around the stoppages.
What cost the home side in the end was a horror run with injuries, losing coach Corey Daniels (hamstring) in the opening 15 minutes of the game.
Things only got worse from there, as Riley Daniels (collarbone), Campbell Everitt (corked thigh) and Adrian Knee (groin) followed suit, leaving NNW United to play out the last quarter without a bench.
The Demons jumped out of the blocks with a four-goals-to-one opening quarter, before Woorinen were able to square the ledger and take a one-point lead into the main break. The lack of rotations in the second half started to take its toll on United, however, and eventually the Demons succumbed to the more polished Woorinen 16.11.107 to 12.3.75.
Despite the result, Nyah-Nyah West United coach Corey Daniels was still upbeat, declaring the result could have easily gone the other way if not for a bit more luck.
“There were lots of positives to take away from it, because we played some really good footy – but you just can’t sustain it for long enough against a good side like Woorinen when you’re down on rotations like that,” Daniels said.
“It wasn’t just the injuries itself that hurt us, but also the fact that we just lost a bit of structure as a result – we lost a bit of our forward structure from it and then when they turned the pressure up, we just weren’t able to stand up to it and just run out of legs.”
Woorinen coach Marcus Demaria agreed with Daniels – with the two-time premiership winning leader also impressed by United’s attack and ball movement in the first half.
“In all honesty, I thought (United) were fantastic and it was probably only a couple of injuries throughout the game that set them back – they started really well with their pressure and the way the moved the footy,” Demaria said.
“Their quick hands from the contest early on we just couldn’t cover and that’s how they got on top of us – they put us under some real heat early and our blokes struggled to handle it, to be honest.
“Once we started to get our hands on the footy and started using our outlet players at the contest, we were away, but initially winning that contested footy was a problem.
“We weren’t winning the contested ball and we weren’t defending it that well either and they were spreading from the stoppages really well and hurting us going the other way.”
Compounding the home side’s woes was the omission of key position swingman Alex Erlandson, who would have come in handy in trying to quell Clayton McCartney and Tom Eltringham – who kicked seven and four goals respectively.
With the Demons dominating around the contest in the first half, Demaria made a couple of key changes to his sides structure after the main break, moving Nyawi Moore and Josh Domaille from half-back into the midfield and pushing Robert Rush to half-back to give the Tigers some extra pace out of defence.
Henry Thompson continued on from his breakout season last year with another fine performance down back for the visitors.
Lachie Gardner flourished in his new role at centre half-forward, before rotating through the ruck to great affect late in the game.
For the Demons, former Huntly ruckman Brayden Frost had an excellent debut game in red and blue and gave his midfield first use of the ball, especially in the first half. Ethan Saville and Zac Caccaviello were strong around the clearances and through the middle of the ground, while Sean O’Reilly and Joel Campbell, playing in defence, were also among the Demons’ better players.
VOTES
3 – Clayton McCartney (Woorinen)
2 – Brayden Frost (NNW United)
1 – Nyawi Moore (Woorinen)
