From Herald Sun
Reported by Sam Landsberger
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THE day after Port Melbourne showed signs it can be made to bleed, Williamstown proved it has the weaponry to kill as it pushed aside a gallant Werribee yesterday.
The Seagulls, challenged by a five-minute Tigers purple patch to start the final quarter, responded as quality sides do and kicked clear to a 13-point win to cement their status as the Borough's biggest rival for this year's premiership.
Ben McKinley's second goal and a pair of clever majors to athletic forward Sean Tighe cut Williamstown's margin to nine points before Peter German's experience clicked into gear.
VFL stars Ben Jolley (32 touches) and captain Brett Johnson reversed the momentum with midfield dominance, while Josh Hill looked lively up forward.
Hill snagged three goals, his second kicked from beyond 50m, as he fights desperately to rekindle his Western Bulldogs career.
Jason Tutt and Ayce Cordy also threw their names into the selection pot at the Dogs.
Tutt, a slight speedster with sublime foot skills, kicked 1.2 from 16 touches and set the game alight in the first quarter with his run and creativity.
Cordy's past two weeks have netted his best performances at senior level. Yesterday he dominated across half-back and rucked well in the final quarter against Hamish McIntosh.
"Ayce showed why he's a good player. He's so versatile he can go down back and his contest marking at the moment is a key to a game, and he's doing it really well," German said.
Jordan Roughead kicked the first two goals of the match, finishing with three and marking strongly as a key forward.
Roughead is being groomed as a full-forward/ruckman and, with Liam Jones, will form a key part of the Dogs attack post-Barry Hall.
Werribee coach Paul Satterley lamented his side's slow start, conceding four of the first five goals.
"I honestly thought we played poorly, and we lost by 13 points. We laid 32 tackles for the game and were averaging 68," he said.
North Melbourne forward McKinley sprayed his kicks, finishing with 2.2 from six shots in an uncharacteristic display.
"It was a funny game for McKinley. He's such an elite user of the pill, but he let himself down a few times. But he's so much better than that," Satterley said.
Matt O'Dwyer enhanced his draft credentials with 21 silky touches.
Bendigo captain Ben Duscher (30 touches) led the Bombers to a 20-point win against Geelong to keep alive their top-four hopes.
Cats coach Matt Egan rued his side's errant goalkicking in the 17.12 (114) to 11.18 (84) loss at Windy Hill.
"It was a bit disappointing because I thought our effort was running at 75-80 per cent," Egan said.
"I kept thinking we'd flick that switch and kick a few more goals but we just didn't have it."
Jonathon Simpkin was the Cats' best with 33 touches
From the VFL
RYAN Hargrave made a low-key comeback from a foot injury with the Williamstown reserves yesterday. The Western Bulldogs defender is eyeing a Round 21 return.
GEELONG forward Cameron Mooney kicked 4.5 in the VFL, impressing coach Matt Egan with his contested marking. Egan said he was ready to return for the AFL side when a place opened up.
ESSENDON rookie Josh Jenkins enjoyed a breakout game for Bendigo, bagging five goals in his best display since joining Windy Hill.
HAMISH McIntosh collected 16 touches in the second half for Werribee to finish with 19 possessions and 17 hitouts.
WESTERN Bulldogs forward Patrick Veszpremi worked hard to collect 15 touches and kick one goal for Williamstown, but a lack of defensive pressure is keeping him out of the AFL side.
SCOTT Gumbleton withdrew from Bendigo's match, but Essendon development coach Shannon Grant said he was not seriously injured and should return next week.
