The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an
Australian rules football club, based in
Werribee
Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham Local government areas of Victoria, local government a ...
. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
(VFL). It is the western-most
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
-based VFL club as of 2021.
History
The Werribee Football Club was established in 1964 as part of a bid to enter the
Victorian Football Association
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
in 1965. The new club was formed as an amalgamation of four local clubs which competed in the Werribee District Football League: Werribee South, Irish National Foresters, Services and Metro Farm. In the early years the team was in the second division, and had little success over that time. Geographically distant from all other clubs in what was then a small town partway between Melbourne and Geelong, the club was unable to attract many strong non-local players, and was considered "the lonesome battler" of the Association. Up to 1980, the club had struggled through its sixteen seasons in Division 2 for one finals appearance and four wooden spoons.
Its sole success during this time was its victory in the 1978
lightning premiership; it was the only Division 2 club to win that competition during its eight-year existence.
The club embarked on a five-year plan in the late 1970s, which saw the club build its finances, improve its on-field performance to reach the finals in 1981, and open a $200k social club in 1980.
This saw the club promoted to Division 1 in 1982, as part of the Association's
merit-based restructure of the competition. The club was relegated after finishing last at the end of 1985. The club won the Division 2 minor premiership in 1987, but never won a premiership or even a finals match during its time in Division 2.
In December 1986, Werribee had been earmarked for exclusion under the Association's controversial Football Organisation Review Team (FORT) recommendations, which sought to rationalise the Association to a stronger twelve-club competition in a single division, but which were never formally enacted after being rejected by the clubs.
However, after the VFA had contracted to a single division in 1989, Werribee began to enjoy on-field success, and Werribee was one of only two of the FORT review's excluded clubs to survive in the VFA beyond 1991, the other being
Springvale.
The club played a major role in the finals during the early 1990s, winning the premiership in 1993, finishing as runner-up after winning the minor premiership in 1991, and playing in a total of five finals series from 1990 to 1995.
At the end of the 1995 season, the club faced another threat to its survival when the
Victorian State Football League
The Victorian State Football League is a former Australian rules football governing body.
The VSFL was established at the end of 1991 to take over administration of football in Victoria from the Australian Football League, which was now becomi ...
sought to align the VFA (which at that time renamed the VFL) with the
TAC Cup
The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...
, and needed only one western suburban team to align with the
Western Jets
The Western Jets is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Victorian premier U19 competition, the NAB League, since its inception in 1992. The club have developmental squads in the U16, however much of the attention is towards its U ...
. Werribee and
Williamstown were ordered to merge; when they could not agree to terms, the VSFL decided to grant the remaining licence to Williamstown, resulting in Werribee's expulsion from the VFL. After Werribee supporters rallied and the club demonstrated a strong position to launch legal action, the VSFL reinstated Werribee's licence under then-unique conditions which left it as the only club without district and TAC Cup feeder teams. The conditions did not harm the club on-field, as it continued to perform strongly, reaching the finals for the next four years, including winning the minor premiership and making a losing Grand Final appearance in 1998. The club was later permitted to take on the
Geelong Falcons
The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition, Victoria, Australia.
The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warrnambo ...
as its TAC Cup feeder team.
Following the amalgamation of the AFL reserves and the VFL, Werribee entered a
reserves affiliation with the
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
's
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
, which lasted from 2000 to 2007. The alliance allowed the club to have access to Bulldogs players who were not selected in the senior team. During that time, the club reached a further two Grand Finals in the 2000s: in 2001 and 2005, but lost both. From 2008 until 2015, the club was part of a split-affiliation structure with the
North Melbourne Football Club, whereby half of North Melbourne's reserve players were allocated to Werribee and half were allocated to
North Ballarat. From 2016 and 2017, the club was fully affiliated with North Melbourne and have access to all North Melbourne reserves players.
In 2018, the club ended its on-field alignment with North Melbourne, becoming a standalone side again for the first time since 1999.
In August 2018, the club announced senior coach John Lamont would be standing down at season's end after five years at the helm. In September,
Port Adelaide AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
premiership coach
Mark Williams was announced as new senior coach on a three-year deal.
In December 2020, following the departure of Mark Williams to the
Melbourne Football Club, the club announced
Michael Barlow
Michael Barlow (born 18 December 1987) is a former professional Australian rules football who played for the Fremantle and Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Barlow grew up in regional Victoria town ...
as Senior Coach for season 2021.
Team squad
1. Hudson Garoni
2. Oliver Hanrahan
3. Micheal Sodomaco
4. Tom Gribble (cc)
5. Nick Coughlan
6. Shaun Mannagh
7. Nicholas Hayes
8. Jack Henderson
9. Louis Pinnuck
10. Joe Maishman
11. Matt Hanson
12. Ariek Lual
13. Keegan Gray
14. Reuben William
15. Kye Declase
16. Tom Boyd
17. Aidan Johnson
18. Nathan Cooper
19. Charlie Ham
20. Harry Stubbings
21. Josh Porter
22. Bior Malual
24. Jay Dahlhaus
25. Tom McCaffrey
26. Noah Gribble
27. Jesse Clark
28. Brady Rowles
29. Dominic Brew (cc)
30. Lucas Rocci
31. Ethan Jackson'
32. Sam Paea
33. Darcy Cassar
34. Jack Driscoll
35. Sam Clohesy
36. Saad El-Hawli
37. Logan Wagener
38. Harrison White
39. Emmanuel Ajang
40. Sam Witherden
45. Connor Thar
49. Martin Brennan
50. Sam Conway
Honours
Club
Individual
*
J. J. Liston Trophy (7): Anthony Eames (1991), Paul Satterley (1995),
Michael Frost (1998),
James Podsiadly
James Podsiadly (born 10 September 1981) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played for the Geelong Football Club and the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by as a matu ...
(2008),
Ben Ross
Benjamin David "Ben" Ross (born 23 May 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played in the National Rugby League for the S ...
(2012), Tom Gribble (2019, 2022)
*
Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal
The Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal is awarded to the Victorian Football League player who kicks the most goals in home-and-away matches in that year. The is named in honour of Jim 'Frosty' Miller, who was the leading goalkicker of the Victorian Footba ...
(3):
Jack Aziz (1993, 1996),
James Podsiadly
James Podsiadly (born 10 September 1981) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played for the Geelong Football Club and the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by as a matu ...
(2005)
*
Fothergill–Round–Mitchell Medal (3): James Puli (1997),
Michael Barlow
Michael Barlow (born 18 December 1987) is a former professional Australian rules football who played for the Fremantle and Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Barlow grew up in regional Victoria town ...
(2009),
Josh Corbett
Josh Corbett (born 23 April 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having initially been signed by the Gold Coast Suns.
Early life
Corbett was raised ...
(2018),
Jake Riccardi (2019)
* J. Field Medal (Division 2 Seniors League Best and Fairest) (1): Stephen Sells (1988)
Club song
The club song is sung to the tune of the US Marines Hymn.
Lyrics
From the playing fields of Melbourne
To the stands of Chirnside Park
We fight our battles to the end
And we'll surely leave our mark!
We're the Tigers of the VFL
And we sing in harmony;
We're the Tigers bold in black and gold
We're the boys from Werribee!
References
External links
*
Full Points Footy Profile of the Werribee Tigers
{{VFL
Victorian Football League clubs
1964 establishments in Australia
Australian rules football clubs established in 1964
Sport in the City of Wyndham
Werribee, Victoria