By KRISTEN ALEBAKIS
THE WRFL is back.
After last year’s disappointing loss at the hands of the Eastern Football League, the WRFL knew it had to make a statement in this year’s WorkSafe Community Championships and that’s exactly what they did on Saturday.
In a highly pressured and entertaining match with Ballarat at Whitten Oval, the WRFL scored a thrilling three-point win, with the winning goal coming in the final two minutes of play.
Andrew Panayi from the Werribee Districts, was the hero.
The talented forward won a free kick 30m out directly in-front in the dying stages of the match and calmly slotted it through, giving the WRFL the lead.
The lead changed hands for most of the second-half, however it was the home side who kicked truly in the final quarter to win the match.
Coach Anthony Eames said he couldn’t be more prouder of the WRFL.
“We were in-front for most of the day,” he said.
“We didn’t use the ball on the outside well and we could have closed the game down a lot earlier, but as group we will learn from that.
“The game was played in the right spirit and in the end we were good enough to win.”
The WRFL had nine scoring shots to three in the first quarter and led by just 16-points at the first break.
“I thought we could have been four or five up at the end of the first quarter,” Eames said.
“We had the ball inside 50, but we just couldn’t finish well.
“Our pressure was good in the second-half and I thought our defence held up well across the day.
“They combined as a team really well and was able to run the ball out fairly well.”
Ballarat had the momentum in the third quarter, with goals coming from Nathan Pring, Mathew Notman and Daniel Tung.
“In the third quarter we probably didn’t use the ball well enough in the corridor, we turned it over a bit,” Eames said.
“It was disappointing to go into the last quarter a point down.
“It was a match that could of gone either way, but I put it on the boys and they were able to find something.
“It was a battle and we were lucky enough to hold on.”
WRFL best on ground honours went to Werribee District star Matt Dean.
Eames said the former Barry Priest medallist showed a lot of poise throughout the afternoon.
“His presence and calmness around the ground was telling, he had a great four quarter performance.
“But, he was just one of many who contributed, Brayden Ferrari, Tim Quick, Murray Boyd and Jase Perkins presented all day, they were all consistent.”
The WRFL is now sixth on the AFL Victoria Community Championships rankings and has set up a date with the Northern Football League next year.
Last Modified on 23/05/2016 17:14