Werribee has secured a well-deserved minor premiership with an 11 point victory over Box Hill in the final game of the Smithy’s 2024 VFL season. 

This marks Werribee’s first minor premiership since 2005 after defeating the Hawks at Box Hill City Oval on Sunday afternoon.

Werribee climbed from tenth in 2022 to finish second on the ladder in 2023, earning a home qualifying final. The Tigers went on a club-record 17-game win streak but ultimately fell one short, losing to a formidable Gold Coast Suns side, consisting of 20 AFL-listed players, by 17 points in the Grand Final. 

The conclusion of the 2023 season brought significant changes for Werribee, driven by a range of factors including retirements and AFL draft departures. The team lost nine players from their Grand Final side, including club legends Tom Gribble, Matt Hanson, and Michael Sodomaco, as well as Norm Goss Medalist Shaun Mannagh and Fothergill Round-Mitchell Medalist Sam Clohesy. Additionally, senior coach and VFL Coach of the Year Michael Barlow was promoted into the AFL coaching ranks, taking up a role with North Melbourne as head of development, while Football Manager Mark Micallef transitioned to the education field.

This wave of change created some uncertainty heading into the 2024 season.

However, with the appointments of former player, Jimmy Allan, as the new senior coach and Ash Collins as football manager, Werribee showed no signs of a drop-off in 2024, starting the season with three consecutive wins to sit on top of the ladder after Round three.

Following back-to-back losses in rounds four and five—their first consecutive losses since August 2022—Werribee made six changes for a Round 6 clash with Carlton, which included the inclusions of key contributors Kobe Annand, Jake Smith and Flynn Young, and never looked back, going on an eleven game win streak. 

After a come-from-behind victory over western rivals Williamstown to retain the John Pyne Memorial Trophy in Round 13, Werribee jumped to the top of the ladder, where they sat for the remainder of the home-and-away season.

The side’s one blemish since Round 5 came against Southport in the second last game of the season, with a narrow six-point loss, however bounced back with a win over Box Hill to seal the top spot finish.

This brings in a fifth minor premiership for the club, after the Tigers won four in the space of fifteen years from 1991 to 2005 (1991, 1998, 2001, 2005).