Workies coach Andrew Farmilo was effusive in his praise of Toby Whitten's performance after the premiers prevailed 5-4 over South United in their Tamworth men's first grade top of the table clash on Sunday.
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When asked what he felt the difference between the two sides was in what was a tight and see-sawing tussle, Farmilo without hesitation replied: Toby Whitten.
He was in his opinion the best player on the field.
"His work-rate was phenomenal," he said.
"His defence was awesome and his attack was excellent."
He scored three of Workies' five goals, including fittingly the match-winner.
"He was just in a mood from the get-go," Farmilo added.
"He just did not stop."
"I couldn't believe he was still running like he was at 70 minutes."
Farmilo has regularly mentioned Whitten among their best performers, but thought Sunday was his best game for them.
"If he continues to play like that it will be great," he said.
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Whitten's effort was all the more impressive given the pace of the game.
"It was end to end and quite quick," Farmilo said.
"The comments from the blokes on the field was that people were getting pretty tired."
The ascendancy and scoring fluctuated throughout the game and there was never more than a goal in it. Workies scored two unanswered goals to clinch the points, the match-winner coming with around five minutes remaining.
Beaten last time the two sides met, Farmilo touched on their finishing and team-work as two of the key differences from the last game.
"We probably took our chances, that was one thing. Our goal-shooting was pretty good," he said.
He added that they got a lot of numbers in defence and a lot of numbers in attack.
In the other game Kiwi Diggers accounted for Tudor Wests 3-1 to notch their second win of the season.
"It wasn't a bad game from us,"Kiwis coach Josh Worpel said.
"[Although] We should have scored a lot more goals that we did."
He counted five or six "good" opportunities they missed in the first half, their options inside the circle letting them down.
That almost came back to bite them when Tudors levelled early in the second half but Luke Wilson restored their lead midway through the half. Worpel then added the finishing flourish with about four minutes to play.
"We defended really well," he said.
He thought they particularly scrambled well.
Both of their wins have come over Tudors, and Worpel said the challenge now is to replicate what they do against them, against Workies and Souths.
"We're not that far off," he said, adding that with a lot of the rep commitments over they should start to get a bit more consistency in personnel.
RESULTS
Workies 5 (Toby Whitten 3, Andrew Farmilo, Issac Woodley gls) d South United 4 (Aaron Aldridge 2, Addison Coutman, Sean Aslin gls).
Kiwi Diggers 3 (Josh Worpel 2, Luke Wilson gls) d Tudor Wests 1 (Ross Fraser gl).
