Altona Vikings overcame a 21-point three-quarter time deficit to shock last season’s preliminary finalists Werribee Districts in the opening round of the Western Region Football League division 1 at Soldiers Reserve on Saturday.
Picture gallery | WRFL: Altona v Werribee Districts
The Vikings’ stirring four-point win came on the back of a five-goal-to-one last quarter and provided an early sign of their finals intentions after a big off-season recruiting campaign.
Vikings coach Josh Russo was delighted for his players to see their toil over a long summer reap immediate dividends.
“I’m absolutely rapt,” he told Star Weekly.
“It’s always good to start the season with a win.
“It pays for the hard work we’ve done over the summer to get the points first up.”
It was real topsy-turvy affair with the complexion of the game turning on a whim.
The first quarter was a shoot-out with 11 goals kicked and the message at both huddles at quarter time was to tighten up the defensive work.
“I think we were super excited to get the season under way and maybe everyone was chasing the footy in the first quarter,” Russo said.
“After quarter time, we made it a bit more of a battle, rather than the free-flowing type of game.”
The game turned into an arm wrestle with only 14 more goals kicked over the last three quarters.
The first sign of a side breaking the game open came when Werribee Districts added to its six-point half time lead with three goals to one in the third quarter.
The Vikings, however, would have the aid of a slight breeze in the fourth quarter, and a nothing to lose mentality as they set about eroding a hefty deficit.
Russo got one last gasp effort from his players.
“I just asked for five or 10 per cent more because I didn’t want all their hard work to go to waste,” he said.
“It’s the first game, you want to build a platform to move forward, so we gave it everything, we took the game on to try and win and ultimately that’s what we did and came away with the points.”
Lee Spiteri was the catalyst for the Vikings comeback with a dominant performance in the midfield.
“In my opinion, he was the stand-out,” Russo said.
“He had massive second half in particular.”
Brett Shiels, Jamie Cook, Travis Lunardi and Adam Camenzuli were influential for the Vikings.
Matthew Cross shut dangerous Districts forward Joey Halloran out of the game to be most consistent four-quarter performer.
Cameron D’Altera led the Vikings attack with three goals, but there was unpredictability about their forward set-up with two goals each to Josh Rafferty, Daniel O’Leary and Mitch Turnbull.
The Vikings will face defending premiers Deer Park in their home opener at JK Grant Reserve on Saturday.
Russo is under no illusions about the enormous task confronting his team after the Parkers slaughtered last year’s runners up Spotswood by 119 points on Saturday.
“It’s the biggest challenge in WRFL at the moment,” Russo said.
“If you’re not willing to test yourself against the best, you’re going to be happy with playing second fiddle, so we want to challenge ourselves and see where we’re at, have a good crack and play a good game against last year’s premiers.”
