Werribee made it two practice match wins from as many outings with an 84-43 result against Footscray at Whitten Oval on Friday night.

The match saw most of Werribee’s more experienced players line up for the first time in the preseason after a young side took to the field against Carlton a week earlier.

Taking on a Footscray side with 11 Western Bulldogs listed players there were a lot of positives for Werribee including the team’s defensive pressure across the whole ground.

Werribee started slowly, conceding the first goal inside the opening two minutes and also struggled to finish off their own early scoring opportunities but would later dominate for long periods.

The Big W's first goal finally came after 15 minutes, and they would kick five unanswered to jump out to a 35-9 lead 10 minutes into the second quarter before the hosts hit back with two goals to end the half.

The third term was Werribee’s most dominant, with five majors kicked from five different goal scorers while conceding just two behinds to lead 69-23 at the last change.

Footscray doubled their goal tally in the final stanza adding three majors to Werribee’s two, but the Big W left with plenty of confidence from their showing ahead of two final practice matches.

Werribee: 3.3 5.6 10.9 12.12 (84)
Footscray: 1.2 3.3 3.5 6.7 (43)

Werribee Goals: Hayes 4, Porter 2, Deng, Lual, Maishman, Mannagh, Wagener.

Top Performers

Nick Hayes – Kicked four goals straight in the intraclub match on our preseason camp and nailed another 4.0 against Footscray. Marked the ball well inside 50 and further up the ground.

Tom McCaffrey – The former Casey Demon played in the midfield, on the wing and half-forward but looked most damaging as an inside midfielder where he showcased his burst of speed and the ability to use the ball once out of congestion.

Tom Gribble – A typical showing from one of the VFL’s best midfielders. Got his hands on the ball often and displayed his ability to win 50-50 balls. Also provided great leadership and direction for the midfield.

Nathan Cooper – Played on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and keep the former number 1 draft pick's impact to a minimum for much of the night. Continues to improve his rebound and ability to create out of the back half.

Jay Dahlhaus – The small forward only played the first half but had a significant impact through the first two quarters with his attack and pressure on the ball being elite. Didn’t register a goal but was involved in several goal scoring plays.

Akol Deng – Playing just his second season of football the former basketballer continues to take big strides. His repeats efforts in both marking and ruck contests is outstanding and was swamped by teammates when he marked and goaled in the third term.

Sam Conway – Spent most of the night in the ruck and fared well against quality AFL opposition in the form of Jordan Sweet. Showed a good temperament and his ability to mark the ball overhead was also a feature.

Ariek Lual – Come on in the second half and played forward, back and pinch-hit it the ruck. Showed more great signs up forward following on from a strong performance there in the intraclub match.