Tara Murray
Caroline Springs came agonisingly close to inflicting Werribee Districts first loss of the Western Football League division 1 season, but had to settle for a draw.
Coming off a week off, the Lakers pushed the Tigers all the way after a slow start to the game.
After being down by 17 points at half time, the Lakers reduced the margin to eight points heading into the final quarter.
The Lakers came home strongly with five last quarter goals, to get a 10.12 (72)-11.6 (72) draw.
Lakers football manager Shaun Rainer said there’s always a bit of a numb feeling after a draw.
“We probably got off to a slow start,” he said. “They got out to a three goal lead.
“We definitely had patches where we had a little bit of the ball but didn’t make the most of our opportunities.
“We came back in the last quarter and nearly stole it. To go down there against the top side and come away with two points is still a good result.’
Rainer said they had a couple of opportunities in the final quarter to get that extra score needed to get the full four points.
He said they were some shots they would normally make, but with a young team pressure will sometimes take its toll.
Despite not getting the result, Rainer said the group would take a lot out of the performance.
“It gives the guys belief,” he said. “They didn’t come away with the win but there’s the belief that if we can maintain it and we feel like we can fix a few things up, we can get the result against them next time.”
Bailey Raak kicked three goals for the Lakers, with Mitchell Bongiovanni and Tate Wood kicking two goals each.
Rainer said Bongiovanni and Max Tessari were good all day in the middle of the ground, while Wood applied a lot of pressure up forward in the last quarter.
“It was a really even team performance,” he said. “It’s been that way for most of the season.
“We’re not relying on one player to lift us up.”
The Lakers remain in third spot despite not getting the win. They are two points behind Yarraville Seddon.
The two teams face each other this week.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” Rainer said. “Yarraville this week. They tore us up in round one.
‘They guys learned a lot from round one and we’ve gotten better.
“We stuck with them for three quarters and they dominated us in the final quarter.”
Meanwhile in division 2, the Western Rams lost to Braybrook, 21.11 (137)-7.8 (50).
The Brookers did most of the damage in the first quarter, leading 51-7 at the first break.
Jared Scott and Damon Lewis were named the Rams best.
The Rams this week face North Sunshine. It will be the club’s best chance to beat it’s losing streak, which dates back to May 5, 2018.
