TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG have claimed their first big scalp, according to senior coach Brad Morris, with the Saints upsetting finals aspirant Woorinen by 46 points on Saturday afternoon.
The win was franked by a dominant last quarter, with the Saints kicking five unanswered goals in the final term after leading by 20 points at three-quarter-time, giving them a commanding 17.6 (108) to 8.14 (62) victory.
The win sees Tooleybuc-Manangatang join Woorinen on 24 points for the season, with the Tigers’ superior percentage seeing them cling to the all-important fifth place on the ladder.
After some disappointing results over the past month, Saturday’s win will fill Tooleybuc-Manangatang with confidence, according to Morris, who will be hoping for more of the same from his players in the second half of the season.
“We got back on the winners’ list last weekend against Koondrook-Barham, even though it wasn’t an overly convincing win – we didn’t play the style that we wanted against them, or Tyntynder the week before that to be honest,” Morris said.
“We set ourselves that this game (Woorinen) was a chance for us to take a big scalp and we wanted to perform against them, but it was more about bringing all our phases of the game together.
“We’ve been good in different aspects of the game throughout the season but we haven’t had the balance right to put together a strong four-quarter effort until Saturday.
“We wanted to be good for four quarters and there was a huge emphasis on that.
“The boys went out and executed and played a really good brand of footy and we got the result we deserved.”
The Saints not only managed to stifle Woorinen’s attacking run off half-back but turned the tables on the home side, with their execution by foot coming to the fore and making the Tigers look lethargic.
While Elliott Chalmers, Gareth Grant and Kai Kearns were influential through the midfield, it was key forward Josh Williams who Woorinen had no answer for, with the former North Melbourne forward booting a match-winning eight goals in a a best-on-ground display for Tooleybuc-Manangatang.
“We wanted to be quick by foot and it’s an area of the game where we did a lot of work in the pre-season,” Morris said.
“We felt that would benefit our type of play and benefit our players and their strengths, so we really got back to playing that way and concentrated on a lot of our movement and a lot of our transition work.
“When you look at it (Saturday’s win) it opened up for us up forward, especially for Josh (Williams), and he took full advantage like good players do.
“We know how hard Woorinen go too, so in that sense we were trying to mix it with them in terms of pace on the game. That was one of the key areas that worked well.
“Woorinen is a tight ground and we knew that if we tried to dump kick down the line, the way they (Woorinen) lock the ball in and defend really well, it wasn’t a plan that was going to work for us.
“They have some really good key defenders who can kill the footy and are good at ground level, but it’s their speed off half-back that generally sets them up, so we knew we needed to execute and get through it with hitting our targets as opposed to kicking it down the line and hoping for the best.”
Chalmers was strong around the contest and gave the Saints first use of the ball, with Connor Mcdonald helping to give his onballers the advantage in the ruck by winning his battle against Arnold Kirby in the middle.
Mcdonald continues to prove himself to be one of the Central Murray’s premier ruckmen every week and, despite Kirby’s size advantage, was able to impact not only at the stoppages but also around the ground.
Lachlan Warburton was the best for the Tigers, with the inside midfielder keeping his team in the contest in a dominant first half, while Taylor Cameron, Henry Thompson, Mitch Uhlhorn and Jye Barry were also solid in what proved to be a dirty day for Woorinen.
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| WOORINEN | 2.2 | 5.5 | 8.8 | 8.14 | 62 |
| TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG | 5.3 | 7.4 | 12.4 | 17.6 | 108 |
VOTES
3 – Josh Williams (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
2 – Connor Mcdonald (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
1 – Elliott Chalmers (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
