WOORINEN were forced to produce a big last quarter in order to shake off a gallant Tyntynder at the weekend, with the Tigers running away with their ninth win of the season by 36 points.
Fresh off a two-week break, the Bulldogs were up for the challenge against the finals-bound Woorinen, who leapfrogged Balranald into second place and now find themselves three wins clear inside the top five, but with a challenging run home.
The Tigers’ next assignment is against the Cohuna Kangas, before facing Balranald, Lake Boga and Kerang over the last four weeks of the home-and-away season.
With seven senior players returning for Tyntynder, including Jason Eagle, Josh Stone, Tyrone Bean and Patrick Blake, the Bulldogs managed to push Woorinen for the first three quarters, with the Tigers holding a nine-point lead at three-quarter time.
After going goal-for-goal for the first 90 minutes, Woorinen were finally able to break free from the Bulldogs’ shackles, with Danko Bzenic kicking four of the Tigers’ five final-quarter goals on their way to a 16.7 (103) to 10.7 (67) victory.
It was a result that left Woorinen coach Marcus Demaria pleased after the match, with his side forced to earn the four points against a determined opponent for the second week in a row.
“The game was pretty even for three quarters – we just couldn’t break them to be honest,” Demaria said.
“We’re usually able to break away from teams in the second half, but it wasn’t until the last quarter that we ran over the top of them and that might have just been because a few them have missed a bit of footy and having played just one game in the last month.”
Tyntynder’s pressure was first class, with the home side locking the game down and not allowing Woorinen to move the ball with precision and fluency off half-back.
But while the Bulldogs were impressive in defeat, Demaria was equally impressed by his side’s ability to not crack under Tyntynder’s relentless attack on the contest.
“When we were able to break the game open, we were able to just run the ball and get the game played on our terms,” Demaria said.
“They (Tyntynder) applied some pretty good pressure for three quarters, but we knew that if we persisted, we’d eventually break through.
“Once that heat came out of the game, we were able to run the ball a bit better, but we just weren’t able to get our switches of play and change of angles and open the game as much as we’d like prior to that.”
“They had a real crack, and had a very strong forward line that troubled us, with (Liam) Whelan, (Matt) Corney at ground level, Eagle, Blake and (Justin) Ellis as well.
“Our backs usually press up really high, but we were probably a little bit tentative knowing that if they got out the back, which they did a couple of times, they’d cut us open.”
Woorinen youngsters Mitch Uhlhorn and Charlie King were both impressive, with both players displaying clean hands and handling the pressure better than most wearing yellow and black. Henry Thompson was another strong contributor across half-back alongside Uhlhorn for much of the afternoon.
Jye Barry continued his strong form to again be among Woorinen’s better players, along with Dylan Godwin and Matthew King.
While unable to get the four points, there were still plenty of positives for the home side to take away, with Josh Stone performing well and getting four full quarters under his belt, along with Cayden Crowe and the continued development of Patrick Blake up forward.
Another strong sign for the future was the performance of Matthew Gillbee, with the key defender taking yet another big-name scalp in Doug Beames in what is becoming a breakout season.
FINAL SIREN
| Tyntynder | 3.2 | 6.4 | 9.7 | 10.7 | 67 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woonrinen | 3.1 | 7.4 | 11.4 | 16.7 | 103 |
VOTES
3 – Mitchell Uhlhorn (Woorinen)
2 – Jye Barry (Woorinen)
1 – Matthew Gillbee (Tyntynder)
