By Marcus Uhe
An “ugly” win over a local foe has Wandin battle-tested for what’s to come, beginning with a showpiece fixture of the season against Narre Warren with a grand final birth on the line this weekend.
Wandin was forced to grind a hard fought victory against Woori Yallock at Kalora Park, finishing 34-point winners 12.16 88 to 8.6 54 in the qualifying final.
The Tigers kicked the first two goals of the contest as a wasteful Bulldogs outfit failed to take a number of goal scoring opportunities in the opening stages.
They soon found their radar, however, kicking the final three of the quarter for an 11-point lead at quarter time.
A sumptuous centring kick from midseason pick-up Damien Furey found Brodie Atkins at the top of the square who put the cherry on top of the six-point cake, with Pat Bruzzese and Joel Garner adding the other two from distance.
It was goal-for-goal in the second term with the Tigers hanging tough, but two signature pieces of ball movement late in the term saw Wandin hit the shed at half time 16-point ahead.
Jordan Jaworski capitalised on an intercept at half back and switch to the open side, while Furey bagged his second thanks to some hard running from defence and a direct approach to goal.
The third quarter was much of the same – try as they might, Wandin held the Tigers at bay.
In many ways the Bulldogs were their own worst enemies, failing to capitalise on copious shots on goal.
The relief on Aaron Mullett’s face when he finally kicked his first after a handful of misses earlier in the game was evident, his goal late in the quarter giving his side a 19-point lead at three-quarter-time.
Bruzzese and Mullett combined on the wing to find Cody Hirst forward of the ball to start the fourth quarter, who extended the lead to a game-high 27 points.
Alex Marsh responded for the Tigers but Hirst’s second and Furey’s third in the space of 60 seconds pushing the lead to 32 points after 10 minutes.
Garner kicked his second and Mitch Arnold his third as the clock ticked away, the final margin cresting on 34 points.
“Sometimes it’s now (about) how, but as long as you do it,” said Wandin coach Nick Adam on the result.
“I felt like we controlled the contest for the most part of the day, but we were inefficient with the ball in hand, particularly forward of centre.
“I thought the back used it pretty well to create shape an uncontested possession out of defensive 50 but I felt like we lived in a world somewhere in between fast and slow, and we weren’t great with it forward of centre.
“I think we’ve beaten them by six goals-plus, three times this year, but it’s never felt comfortable. They’re superb at creating a contest and being able to remain in it.”
Aaron Mullett got through his first full game since round four, playing midfield minutes in the second half as well as deep forward, while the battery of midfielders ensured the void left by Connor Smith was largely unnoticed, having been selected for Footscray’s VFL clash with Casey.
Pleasingly for the Bulldogs, their defence is playing as tight in the last month as they have all season, allwoing just 13.6 shots on goal in their last five contests.
“We’ve been big on them being really assertive in the way they play, and that’s really reliant on pressure at the source,” Adam said.
“Our ability to put pressure on the contest allows our defenders to get assertive and try to win it, or even if they reference defenders to come off and try to win it two-against-one.
“We’re winning the ground ball contest once we’re able to bring it to ground, and that’s something that was a highlight for me. We were actually really poor in the forward 50 in that space on the weekend, but in our defensive 50 we had John Ladner, Hunter Coghlan, and Chayce Black, their ability to mop it once they brought the ball to ground was really strong.”
The top-three finish means Woori Yallock stay alive in 2023, who will tackle Pakenham next week in an attempt to prolong its season.
