Under lights and with a home ground advantage at Avalon Airport Oval, the Tigers started well enough, but couldn’t sustain a four-quarter effort and went down by 58-points.
It was a disappointing night and few positives could be taken away, even for North Melbourne coach Brad Scott who attended the game after guiding the Roos to a resounding victory over Melbourne just hours earlier at Etihad Stadium.
Nathan O’Keefe (9 disposals, 5 marks) maintained his usual impressive work rate up forward but only managed a single goal from three shots while Robbie Tarrant (13 disposals, 6 marks, 3 tackles) had a relatively quiet game.
Tigers’ coach Simon Atkins was quick to point out that the quality of disposal directed to the duo simply wasn’t good enough.
“We probably didn’t use it well enough into our forward 50 which on a game total, I think in the second half, we had more inside 50’s than Collingwood,” he said.
Ben Ross (12 disposals, 3 marks, 4 tackles, 1 goal) looked to be under duress for much of the game but was one of the better performers along with North draftee Ayden Kennedy (14 disposals, 4 marks, 5 spoils) who was solid in defence.
Alan Obst (15 disposals, 4 marks, 4 tackles) was kept busy for much of the night and Majak Daw (6 disposals, 12 hit-outs) kept the pressure on the opposition with six tackles.
Atkins was pleased with some aspects of the game.
“A positive was our first quarter…even the second quarter where it looked like it was going to get out of control, we were able to stem it a little bit.
“One thing the group doesn’t do is chuck it in and we were able to get equal possessions with the opposition so we got our fair share of the footy.”
The Tigers could have used in form back Jamie MacMillan with the Magpies slamming through 19 goals and 19 behinds, but the teenager was struck down with tonsillitis.
However, MacMillan (16 disposals, 3 tackles) joined Conor Meredith (8 disposals, 4 tackles, 4 spoils) in the reserves on Sunday and helped the Tigers to a sensational 44-point win over Casey.
But it was North rookie Matthew Scott (20 disposals, 7 clearances, 4 tackles) who stole the spotlight and made the most of his opportunities in the midfield.
A concussion in the third term was the only thing threatening to stop the 19 year-old as he went on to declare his intentions for a promotion into the senior side.
Seniors
Collingwood: 19.19.133
Werribee: 11.9.75
Reserves
Werribee: 20.11.131
Casey: 12.15.87
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| Jamie MacMillan |
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| Robbie Tarrant |
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| Ayden Kennedy (second from left) |
