Werribee let slip a first home win of the season going down to Carlton by 19 points in Round 5.

Up by 17 points at quarter time in front of a strong crowd at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday, Werribee's advantage was cut to 10 points at halftime before the Blues took a one-point lead into the final term.

Werribee regained control early in the last thanks to goals from Hudson Garoni and Josh Porter but that was all the home team could muster with basic skill errors and the loss of Matt Hanson and Jesse Clark impacting the Big W late as Carlton (4-1) surged home finishing the match with five unaswered goals. 

FINAL SCORE

Werribee: 3.7 5.9 8.11 10.14 (74)
Carlton 1.2 4.5 9.6 14.9 (93) 

GOALS
Werribee: S. Mannagh 2, J. Henderson 2, H. Garoni 2, B. Malual, J. Porter, L. Rocci, M. Sodomaco.
Carlton: B. Crocker 3, N. Cahill 2, J. Carroll 2, J. Cripps 2, P. Dow, B. Kemp, T. Williamson, W. Hayes, L. O’Brien.

BEST
Werribee: J. Henderson, K. Gray, N. Hayes, T. Gribble, B. Malual, C. Ham.
Carlton:

HOW IT HAPPENED 

For the second week in a row Werribee started the stronger of the two sides and after a couple of early misses by Ollie Hanrahan, Michael Sodomaco produced another opening quarter goal while Lucas Rocci, in his first game of the season and playing as a small forward, followed up by slotting the team’s second to see the Big W jump out to a 14-point lead after seven and half minutes. Carlton soon registered its first scores, two behinds, and after an uneventful next 10 minutes Shaun Mannagh kicked Werribee’s third to give the hosts a 20-point buffer.

After finishing the first quarter with three straight behinds Werribee’s inaccuracy continued early in the second term with two minor scores inside the first five minutes. With the Big W missing out on the chance to go further ahead, Carlton got itself back into the game with the next five scoring shots, three of which were goals, to lead by a point, 15 minutes into the second. However, Werribee quickly wrestled back the momentum as Jack Henderson nailed a long-range set shot and Bior Malual converted after marking 15 metres out to see Werribee go into the main break up by 10.

The hosts started the second half positively with Hudson Garoni kicking truly after four and a half minutes, before a couple of rushed behinds took Werribee’s score to 6.11 for the day. Back-to-back majors for Carlton in the space of four minutes pegged the margin back, but the Big W once again responded when challenged with Henderson and Mannagh each bagging their second goals to help restore a three-goal advantage. The back and forth continued with Carlton adding three straight goals before Fogarty missed a shot after the siren.

Despite being down two rotations with Matt Hanson and Jesse Clark out of the game, Carlton’s one-point buffer was quickly erased in the last. After an early Josh Porter miss Garoni goaled before Porter made no mistake with his next chance just before the nine-minute mark. The next eight minutes passed with just a single Werribee behind but with basic skill errors starting to creep in again Carlton fired back with majors to Dow and Cripps. With scores level at 73-all Werribee should have regained the lead through Malual 21 minutes in and from there the Blues seized their opportunity. They took just over a minute to kick their third major of the term before two late goals sealed the result.  

KEY PLAYERS

Tom Gribble : 40 disposals (23 handballs), 18 handball receives, 6 clearances, 7 inside 50s, 6 score involvements, 3 rebound 50s.
Kye Declase: 28 disposals (20 kicks), 14 handball receives, 7 marks, 7 inside 50s, 8 score involvements.
Jack Henderson: 28 disposals (15 contested possessions), 6 clearances, 5 tackles, 6 score involvements, 2 goals.
Ollie Hanrahan: 26 disposals, 15 handball receives, 7 marks, 4 tackles, 6 score involvements.
Shaun Mannagh:  23 disposals (16 kicks), 12 contested possessions, 6 clearances, 5 inside 50s, 5 tackles, 2 goals.
Michael Sodomaco: 18 disposals (13 kicks), at 83% efficiency, 10 handball receives, 5 rebound 50s, 3 clearances, 1 goal.
Sam Conway: 10 disposals, 4 marks (3 contested) 24 hit-outs, 5 clearances.

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NEXT MATCH

Round 6
Werribee vs Gold Coast
Sunday May 1, 11.05pm
Metricon Stadium complex, Queensland