Werribee Centrals travelled to Geelong West looking for another win and they welcomed their Coach Luke Phipps back after a long injury and Shaun Simmons and with other injuries to David Leach and Blake Pilkington it allowed young Josh Richmond to play his first senior game for the club.
Centrals started with their normal centre setup with Nathan Lovell in the ruck and he was instrumental in getting the ball to the centre players and doesn’t Centrals look a different side with Brayden Montebruno in this setup. He hits the ball hard and his second and third efforts really put pressure on the opposition and this allowed Centrals to gain many centre breaks and give the forwards especially Craig Rosenzweig a dream run early in the quarter. Geelong West though regrouped and three goals to them kept them in the game at quarter time.
It was Brayden Montebruno who again ignited Centrals in the second with a snap for the first goal and then Nathan Lovell also snapped truly to give Centrals a solid start to the quarter. Geelong West though came back again and Centrals needed to man up to stop their run. Some very solid tackling in Centrals forward line enabled Craig Rosenzweig to kick a couple of late goals and again give Centrals a break at the end of the quarter. But it could still have been anyone’s game.
Centrals knew they would have to lift still further to keep Geelong West at bay and it was the youngsters in Carl Chesterman and Josh Richmond who were finding their feet that led the way. Chesterman on a wing kicked a goal and gave a couple away and Josh Richmond kicked his first in senior footy. This seemed to lift the side and Centrals started to run the ball a little better and make position but frittered away many opportunities in front of goal. Centrals half back line was impassable as David Clonan and Brayden Smith took control and repelled many attacks and Luke Phipps in the centre started to find the tempo of the game.
Assistant Coach David Leach asked the team to continue to play run on footy and not stop doing the things they know are needed for a top brand of footy. He wanted seven goals into the breeze but Centrals were only able to kick four but it was enough to win comfortably.
Final Scores:- Werribee Centrals 21.14 – 140 to Geelong West 10.10 - 70
Goal Kickers:- C Rosenzweig 6, T Montebruno 3, N Lovell 2, J Richmond 2, S Morgan 2, B Montebruno, B McNicol, C Chesterman, T Bray, C Brierty & P Jones 1 each.
Best Players:- N Lovell, B Smith, B Montebruno, D Clonan, B Chugg, L Phipps & B McNicol.
The Reserves after their first win last week wanted to continue in the same vein this week and in reality should have playing one of the bottom sides. If they were to prove themselves as a good side they needed to beat Geelong West. Started very slowly and Geelong West showed Centrals how to run and move the ball quickly but as the quarter went on Centrals started to find another gear and were able to wrest control of the game away from the home side. In fact Geelong West was only able to kick another goal for the last three quarters of the game and allowed Centrals to run out comfortable winners. The likes of Nick Byrne, Scott Rathbone, Vinnie Leung, Luke Speziale found some of the form that has been eluding them in earlier games.
Final Scores:- Werribee Centrals 16.17 – 113 to Geelong West 3.6 – 24
Goal Kickers:- D Giarrusso 6, V Leung 2, M Deluca, K Blade, L O’Malley, B Saunders, N Byrne, A McLeod, L Speziale & J Morrell 1 each.
Best Players:- N Byrne, D Giarrusso, J Pace, S Rathbone, B Saunders, V Leung, L Speziale & A McLeod.
This week Centrals are at Galvin Park in Werribee against one of the top teams Anakie who have played some good football this year so they will need to be prepared for a very tough game.
Last Modified on 13/05/2012 08:59