WERRIBEE champion Michael Sodomaco was proud of his side’s efforts in the Smithy’s VFL Grand Final despite being understandably gutted after the Tigers fell short against the Gold Coast Suns

The 32-year-old, who was his 135^th VFL game and first Grand Final battled through a troublesome hamstring that saw him miss the qualifying final win over Box Hill Hawks, finishing with 10 disposals and four marks in the 19-point defeat at IKON Park.

While disappointed that Werribee’s record 17-match winning streak fell three goals short of becoming 18 to secure the premiership, Sodomaco said the Tigers could be proud of what they achieved in a wonderful campaign.

“It is disappointing right now, straight after the game, but we’ll reflect on a pretty solid season and there’s a lot to be proud of,” Sodomaco said.

“We haven’t got a single player with AFL experience and we came up against a team that is as strong a VFL team as you’ll see in Gold Coast today.

“We took it right up to them and delivered our trademark effort and it just wasn’t quite enough unfortunately.”

Sodomaco said there was one simple change to Werribee’s philosophy this season that helped lift it from 10^th spot last year with a 9-9 win-loss record to 18-3 and runners-up.

“The biggest thing we changed was to concentrate on the process, week by week, every week and it was really enjoyable,” he said.

“We’ll look back on that and as much as we didn’t cap it off with a premiership we can be really proud of that and we have some amazing memories throughout this year.”

Asked about the long-term push for a standalone club to compete with and beat AFL reserves teams on a regular basis, Sodomaco put it down to a long-term commitment to the cause.

“I think the formula is pretty simple. You’ve got to get some good players and good people and keep them at the club for a long time. Put the work into them and get them up to the level,” he said.

“We’ve been able to do that for a while, which is great, and we’ll look to do that same again.”