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.

The Werribee Football Club is thrilled to see the return of Godings as a key sponsor for 2022. 

The Kubota tractor and excavator dealer enters it’s fourth year as a Principal Sponsor of the club and Werribee CEO Mark Penaulna said it was fantastic to have the business recommit for another year.  

“It’s been great to have the support of Godings over recent years,” he said. 

“They’re a company that works closely with many other businesses, not only across Wyndham but other areas of Melbourne and Geelong and we really appreciate their involvement with our club.” 

Godings owner Adrian Williams said he and his wife Amanda have a strong philosophy of giving back to the community. 

“I approached Mark a few years ago and asked how I could get involved and things went from there,” he said. 

“I am a footy tragic and have a lot of friends involved with the WFC, so it was natural progression to become involved. 

“I also enjoy the social interaction with the community and feel that WFC unites the local football community, not to mention my kids Ella and Thomas love going to Avalon Airport Oval to watch the footy and have a kick on the ground at half-time.” 

The Werribee Football Club on Monday announced a profit of $429,000 for the financial year ending 31 October 2021.

The figure was confirmed at the 2021 Annual General Meeting at Chirnsides By The River and was a $2 million turnaround from the previous 12 months when the club recorded a $1.5 million loss.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Penaluna said it was pleasing result after almost two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The past 24 months have been more than financial challenging," he said.

"However we’ve been very fortunate that our key stakeholders - sponsors, members and staff have stuck together and been resolute in their determination for the Werribee Football Club to remain a strong and prosperous entity in the VFL.”

In addition to the presentation of the 2021 financial and annual reports, it was announced that Martin Carter (president), Ian Hovey, Peter Mayall and Jack Elliot were all re-elected to their board positions on new two-year terms.

Three incoming board members were also introduced - Mia Shaw, Emily Buysen and Monika Schott who initially enters on a one-year term.

The trio replace outgoing board members Jamie Taylor, Bernadette Innes and Simone Bellears who were all acknowledged for their contributions.

You can view the 2021 Werribee Football Club Annual Report HERE.

Like the playing list at Werribee in 2022 the club’s coaching make-up sees the return of many of the key faces that have been a part of the program in recent seasons.

With Michael Barlow entering year two as senior coach he returns two of his three assistants from a year ago in Nick Daffy and Tom Perrett.

The team’s third assistant James Saker joins VFL coaching ranks for the first time but is familiar with Werribee having played four seasons with the club, two of those alongside Barlow.

Saker comes in as club’s backline and team defence coach which means both Perrett and Daffy will head up new areas of the field this season.

Perrett’s focus shifts from the back half of the ground to the front half taking charge of a young forward group as well as overseeing ball movement.

Daffy turns his attention to the midfield and stoppages working closely with the senior coach.

The four will again be surrounded by three development coaches headed by Hamish MacInnes with Luke Gallaher and Wassim Rafihi resuming their roles from last year.

Additionally, Gallaher and Rafihi will assist Perrett and Saker with their respective positions.

“I’ve said a number of times we are an aspirational group and what really does help with that is consistency around the coaching department,” Barlow said.

“I think everyone brings something different and from my point of view we coach, we teach and we challenge.

“One of my big take-aways or understandings from my first year in the job was to just allow those coaches to take the reins and flourish by utilising their respective skillsets.”

Even with the changes amongst assistant coaches Barlow said everyone is incredibly well suited to their designated position in 2022.

“Sakes just loves defending, we often joke that he wasn’t great with ball in hand but was one of the great players to play with at because of his effort and commitment to defending,” he said.

“His knowledge around, in particular team defence has already advanced us.

“Tom is just so reliable in terms of what he produces and is so consistent in his day-to-day involvement.

“He’s a school teacher by trade which really translates well to him working with a forward line group that is definitely our youngest area on the ground.

“Daff has no problems adjusting his role from forward line coach to the midfield.

“He’s built a really good rapport with our senior players with many of those guys part of the midfield and is tremendous at critically challenging them and finding different avenues for learning for them.

“Our development coaches have a big role to play too, running our development program for our under 22 players of which there are 16 players on the list and a similar number of train-ons.

Also working with the development group will be experienced pair Michael Sodomaco, Tom Gribble and recruit Ollie Hanrahan.

Outgoing captain Sodomaco will share his knowledge mentoring a group of small defenders, with Gribble taking on a similar role with the team’s young midfielders while former Hawthorn player Hanrahan will work wholistically with the under 22 group.

Analysis will be headed up by Luke Rosenstengel and a team of interns who will oversee the collation of keys stats. Meanwhile, David Supek takes on the responsibility of opposition scouting.