AN inaccurate Woorinen put the final touches on their qualifying final preparations with a 63-point win over Nyah-Nyah West United at the Tigers’ den on Saturday.
The home side didn’t have things all their own way, however, with the Demons more than matching the Tigers for the opening 30 minutes, before the home side flexed their muscles and piled on 12 goals to two over the final three quarters to register a comfortable victory.
It could have been much worse for United had Woorinen kicked straight, with the Tigers registering a wasteful 26 behinds for the match – an area of their game they will need to clean up ahead of Saturday’s qualifying final against the Cohuna Kangas.
But while their inaccuracy in front of goal on Saturday is an area to work on during the week, their coach Marcus Demaria was more concerned about his team’s first quarter as a whole.
“It’s all about putting that early scoreboard pressure on and we couldn’t do that – we’ll try to take the positives away from our inaccuracy, in that at least we’re getting the scoring shots, we’re just not putting them through the big sticks at the moment,” Demaria said.
“We were pretty slow to set up our press at times, there were holes in it and they got through and young Charlie Boulton just stationed himself deep forward and didn’t come up with our press. When they got the ball through and out the back he was just sitting there and our backs didn’t show any sort of awareness to be able to get back and pick him up.
“It took us a bit to hit our straps and I suppose not having that continuity of the past couple of weeks with so many players in and out of the side hasn’t helped in that regard.
“Probably one thing we pride ourselves on is having that continuity in our game and having everyone on the same page – but obviously when you’ve got four or five out each week it probably takes a while to gel.”
Boulton was a shining light for the Demons, kicking four goals for the game. Both Jye Barry and Lachlan Gardner kicked four for Woorinen.
The real positive from a Woorinen perspective was the move of Mitch Uhlhorn into the midfield, with the Tigers needing to now find an extra couple of midfield rotations in the absence of Robbie Miller. Uhlhorn was shifted into the middle from his usual defensive role and had an immediate impact, winning a number of crucial clearances and having a significant impact around the ground.
Regan Vesty also spent more time in the middle in Miller’s absence and, like Uhlhorn, stepped up, while the ever-consistent Josh Domaille and Jye Barry were also dominant, Barry spending the most of the second half up forward.
The positive from a NNW United perspective would have been the form of their younger players in their last game of 2022.
Blake Larkings was strong in the ruck opposed to Arnold Kirby, while Zack Threadgold, Ben Shadbolt, Adrian Knee, Zac Caccaviello and Boulton were also among the Demons’ better players.
VOTES
3 Votes Mitchell Uhlhorn (Woorinen)
2 Votes Josh Domaille (Woorinen)
1 Vote Regan Vesty (Woorinen)
MATCH RESULTS
WOORINEN 0.5 5.11 10.15 12.26.98
NNW UNITED 3.1 3.4 4.5 5.5.35
GOALS – WOORINEN – Jye Barry, Lachlan Gardner 4, Arnold Kirby 2, Matthew Gardner, Lachlan Wright 1.
NNW UNITED – Charlie Boulton 4, Zachary Caccaviello 1.
BEST – WOORINEN – Mitchell Uhlhorn, Josh Domaille, Regan Vesty, Jye Barry, Matthew Gardner, Lachlan Wright.
NNW UNITED – Blake Larkings, Zack Threadgold, Benjamin Shadbolt, Charli Boulton, Adrian Knee, Zachary Caccaviello.
