Match result

Casey Demons 11.15.81 defeated Werribee 9.12.66

In action

Cam Zurhaar (8 disposals, 3 tackles)
Will Fordham (13 disposals, 1 goal)
Matt Taylor (5 disposals)

Story of the Game

With finals on the line, a drastically undermanned Werribee outfit was outclassed by Casey in wet and windy conditions away from home.

The Demons dominated the ruck contest winning the hit-outs 67 to 25 and also the inside 50 count 55 to 39 to run away with an important victory that put them into fourth position on the VFL ladder.

With only three North Melbourne players at his disposal, coach John Lamont threw everything he had at Casey, but came up short and his side finished the year in 12th spot.

"We'd like to have bigger numbers in terms of North representation than that, but it was disappointing to lose nonetheless," North Development Coach David Loader said.

"Everyone wants to play finals football but at the end of the day, we finished where we probably should have considering all the injuries we've had.

"It was tricky conditions and was always going to be an arm wrestle. There was a heavy wind going to one end of the ground so all the scoring was done at one end. The game ebbed and flowed and the boys were very brave and battled hard, but we were probably just out classed at the end of the day. Casey kicked with the breeze in the last quarter and were able to skip away."

Best of the VFL

Matt Hanson was best on ground for Werribee yet again, with a dominant 30 disposal, 9 tackle and 8 inside 50 effort.

Talking Points

Zurhaar shows signs 
Despite relatively low numbers in terms of disposals, Cam Zurhaar still showed glimpses of his AFL attributes. 

Playing up forward, the rookie had two shots on goal.

"He was solid, obviously coming back from AFL football has helped him immensely with what he's learnt up there," Loader said. 

"He was solid on a really tricky night. It was wet and windy at Casey and a really tough night.

"He shows signs of being better than VFL level with certain things that he does, but it's a pretty steep learning curve stepping up to AFL football so for guys like him to get the opportunity this season, as we've been able to blood a lot of blokes, has been invaluable. A lot of these guys get valuable feedback and then come back and out a lot of that stuff into place and they're much improved as a result. It's been a really good result for our group to have so many go up to the AFL and play."

Fordham finishes strong 
Will Fordham played through the midfield again and displayed his strong running to end the year on a positive note.

"He has finished the year quite well and in some good form," Loader added.

"His running patterns were very good and he's made some good improvements this season."

Last game for Tigers / North
The loss ended a long and successful alignment between North and Werribee. As of next season, the Kangaroos will have their own VFL side led by David Loader.

"We're rapt and excited as a coaching group about the focuses we can pout in place with our players to get them up to be AFL footballers as soon as they possibly can," Loader said.

"With the opportunity for us to be able to have total control your view changes a little bit perhaps on the development of your players. We will put into place everything we possibly can just to get guys up to speed and hopefully if and when their opportunity comes up to play AFL football they're prepared and ready to go.

"Everyone around the club is excited about what 2018 might look like. We've got to add 24 players to our top-up list which is a process we'll work through over the next few weeks.

"A lot of work to be done but very exciting times in front of us.

"People have got to be smart enough to realise that there's a big difference when you've got an alignment with someone compared to just purely working within your own walls. The alignments with Werribee and North Ballarat in the past have been super strong and we've been really lucky to have those and we bid them goodbye and wish both clubs the very best ... for us our focus is a little bit more development based and as soon as we can get that part right, we feel the second part - being winning - will take care of itself. But certainly our focus will be on developing that list of 44 as quick as we can."