The Northern Bullants have succumbed to a spirited Werribee by 42 points at the weekend, in a match best remembered for the successful return of Matthew Kreuzer.

Kreuzer got through his first hit-out since the 13th round of 2010, but it was an otherwise lackluster affair for the Ants. Though they competed solidly in the opening quarter, Werribee banged on 19 goals to 12 after the first change to emerge the comfortable victors.

Northern Coach Darren Harris conceded that the quarter-time indicators betrayed what was to follow.

“We’d played the game for 70 per cent in our half, we’d come out with scores even, we’d played some pretty good footy and we’d thought that we’d been kicking into the breeze - so we thought we were going okay,” Harris said.

“Revisiting the video, the ball came out too easy and it went from coast to coast. I also thought that some of our defensive run and transition wasn’t of a standard we’d previously been able to deliver.”

Harris also noted that whilst his team “went inside 50 60 times to their 57, we lost by seven goals, and the obvious concern was that they marked 14 of our direct kicks inside 50”.

“That was just too many and the ball needed to come to ground,” Harris said.

“To quarter time we also managed ten tackles inside 50, but probably only applied three or four for the rest of the game, and that was how the game unfolded.”

That said, Harris singled out Lachie Henderson and Wayde Twomey for special mention - Henderson, for his run and general competitiveness; Twomey for making an impact after tightening certain areas of his game.

The third-placed Northern Bullants confront Box Hill, currently tenth, at Visy Park on Sunday.

Northern Bullants        4.1       6.4       10.7     16.9 (105)
Werribee                      4.1       12.4     18.5     23.9 (147)

Goalkickers. Northern Bullants: Saad 5, Henderson, Kreuzer, Cachia 2, Carter.

Best players: Henderson, Twomey, Iacobucci, Marcon, Houlihan, Davies