Webb continues amazing start to coaching careerTuesday, May 14, 2013 - 4:00 PM - by Chris Pike

MARC Webb continued the impressive start to his coaching career leading Western Australia to its first win over Victoria since 1991 and he deserves much of the credit for some intuitive moves including playing Wayde Twomey forward, picking Clancy Wheeler and blooding some youngsters.

The former triple premiership captain and four-time premiership player at Subiaco led Claremont to last year's WAFL premiership in his first season as a senior coach meaning he was offered the job to lead WA against Victoria in Northam, and he guided the Black Swans to a 17-point victory.

As a player Webb was part of some tough losses against Victoria most notably the 119-point hammering at Port Melbourne's TEAC Oval in 2007 so he knows just how significant the result is for the WAFL.

"It's just a massive result for the competition. We lost that game a few years ago and it was more the fact that you felt embarrassed for the fact that it was a reflection on the competition that you are a part of," Webb said.

"I don’t think it was a true reflection at the time and these games do tend to reflect on where we are at and it's just to show that we are comparable with other State leagues. Our focus is on always being competitive because we believe we have enough quality players in the WAFL to be able to say that."

The day didn’t look likely to pan out well for Webb early on, though, when WA kicked inaccurately and Victoria assumed control to be 31 points up midway through the third quarter.

However, from there WA kicked nine of the last 10 goals to run out impressive winners and Webb always thought there would be a good chance of his team running over the top of the Big V.

"It was one of those things where early on we missed a fair few opportunities we should have taken and you never know if that will hurt you or not in the end. You just have to keep the boys positive on the process you are trying to achieve and we never really seemed out of it, but when we did get back into it they seemed to kick two quick ones," he said.

"When the momentum changed in the third quarter, though, when they started to slow down and the pressure started to drop we got the feeling we could run over them and that definitely panned out.

"We banked on the fact that with them travelling and us having a bigger style of ground would mean we could run over the top of them, and that was the case. Our focus at half-time was being within striking distance of being able to win the game in the last quarter and our ability to run and move the ball in that last quarter was really good, and the telling difference."

With the absence of spearhead Josh Smith through a calf injury, Webb had to find some different options up forward and while Tim Geappen stepped up as the main target booting three goals with Paul Bevan also adding three and Brennan Stack two, it was Twomey who shone.

He booted five goals having previously only kicked 26 in his 84-game WAFL career with Swan Districts and it proved a masterstroke from Webb.

"I think he has played a bit at half-forward in his time at Carlton so we looked at Wayde Twomey more as an option who we could throw around as a flexible player. In the end he was too important forward for us that we never really entertained playing him elsewhere," he said.

"When you pick squads and teams, you just can't go out there and try to pick the best 18 players who might be getting a lot of the ball or kicking goals. You have to pick your best team for the day and have players with a bit of versatility, and he showed that he's got that."

While Twomey was a deserved Simpson Medal winner for his match-winning five-goal haul, a major reason why Victoria managed just three second half goals and none in the last quarter was the defensive efforts of Steven Dodd.

"I thought Doddy was right up there as our best player," Webb said.

"Not only because of his ability to get a spoil in, but at times he took crucial marks and we were able to rebound from that and get it in our own 50. When you have a player who can beat someone one-on-one and then move it, then it makes a difference to your team."

When Smith withdrew and Webb and his coaching staff decided to go with Paul Johnson virtually as the sole ruckman, someone who could pinch-hit up forward and in the ruck was needed and having played with him at Subiaco, Webb  thought Wheeler was the perfect option.

He played his role superbly as well finishing with an impressive 14 possessions, five tackles and six inside-50 entries, and more importantly something just always seemed to happen when he was around the ball.

"Obviously I have firsthand knowledge of Clancy from playing with him at Subiaco and I knew that when Smithy went down that if we needed someone to pinch hit ruck and play forward that I knew his abilities," he said.

"I thought it was pretty logical to get in a player who can do that because when? you have Paul Johnson there you want him rucking 20 minutes a quarter. It was a good option going with Clancy and he did well."

While there were experienced players who stepped up for WA, it's always exciting to see young players grasp their opportunities and West Perth's Aaron Black certainly did that with 21 possessions and two goals.

"It's a massive thing for a young player," he said.

"We wanted to make sure that with the state team we wanted to reward some young players who were in form and Blacky's form this year at West Perth on the wing has been wing. A few guys knew him well and knew his character so we thought it would be a good game for him to play in and he did well."

As for his own coaching career which now includes an unbeaten start to the 2013 season at Claremont, a premiership and Foxtel Cup title last year and now WA's first win over Victoria in 22 years, Webb isn’t getting too carried and has now quickly turned his focus back to Tigerland.

"Some say it's going well and some say that the next part is only downhill for me. It's great to get the opportunity to coach the State team and to have a win is a great thing. I have no illusions where I'm at as a coach given I'm only one and-a-half years into a full-time gig," Webb said.

"The fact that we are having a good run at Claremont doesn’t mean much at this point. There's still a lot of footy to be played this season. We enjoyed the night after beating Victoria, but now I'm back to Claremont and everyone else is back to their club trying to knock us off to get to a premiership.

"This was a great experience to enjoy with a bunch of guys you don’t get to spend much time with, but now we are all back to our clubs."