Liam Durkin
FINALS-bound teams are just about set in the Gippsland League.
For Leongatha, Wonthaggi, Moe and Traralgon, it will be a matter of who finishes where, and who misses the double-chance.
The Parrots, Power and Lions are equal-first on the ladder, and with five rounds to go, there is still enough time for Sale or Morwell to take the last available spot in finals.
MAFFRA enjoyed some reward for effort.
The Eagles put a difficult month behind them to defeat Bairnsdale 17.9 (111) to 14.10 (94).
Having copped the rough end of the stick in terms of the fixture, playing the top five sides all in succession, Maffra was finally able to play a side at their level.
A high-scoring match ensued, with more than 30 goals kicked at Maffra Recreation Reserve in the middle of winter.
Maffra skipper Daniel Bedggood nailed seven, while Sam Davidson kicked three.
Brayden Monk did a good job, as did Kade Renooy, Nathan Pollard and Noah Christy.
The Eagles added five goals in each of the first two quarters, before a Bairnsdale fightback had the difference just 10 points at the final change of ends.
A relatively even last quarter played out, but Maffra did enough to bring up win number three for the year.
The Redlegs were well-served by Nathan Dennison, Ethan East, Will Mitchell, Lachlan Byrne-Jones, Xavier Richards and Andrew Nelson.
With Maffra in a rebuilding phase, and having had more than a dozen first gamers this season, any victory the Eagles can achieve will no doubt do wonders for their confidence and growth.
Maffra coach Anthony Robbins said the performance was a step in the right direction.
“We had six kids under 18, it was a great experience for them,” he said.
“Everybody likes to experience the winning feeling, so to hold their motivation and want and desire to play and to win a game where they were challenged was really good.”
The result had a dual-benefit for Maffra, as they were able to demonstrate an attractive brand, as opposed to previous weeks where they have been forced to defend heavily.
“They (Bairnsdale) were looking to score rather than just defend, and we’re trying to play a particular game of footy and not roll guys behind the ball as we teach our young guys, it was pretty open and a pretty good game,” Robbins said.
“In the third quarter they (Bairnsdale) played well, I think we probably went away from the structural things we were doing in the first two quarters that were giving us opportunities, we went back and then made the most of our opportunities, it was good to do that when challenged as well.”
With quality senior players like Bedggood and Renooy out on the field, Robbins said the young players were now becoming more accustomed to everything associated with senior football, and importantly, weren’t just being gifted games either.
“I think a few guys like Noah Christy, Zach Felsbourg, Max Stobie, Jett Kalloran, these guys are now starting to feel a bit more comfortable in terms of their role and what they can contribute to the side and that they can’t just be in the side for experience,” he said.
“They are actually capable of contributing, and they showed that yesterday.
“To still have some experience around, they aren’t looking for them to take the lead all the time and do everything.”
Having gained the four points, there is sure to be a further injection of enthusiasm at Maffra training tonight, carrying the positivity Robbins said was evident when the song was sung at the weekend.
“After the victory there would have been 60 people in the rooms, family, parents coming in,” he said.
“(We are) trying to bring them along as well, because footy clubs are about places where people feel like they belong, a lot of these parents have been great support, without them we wouldn’t see these people involved in our club.
“We’ve had family in presenting jumpers and we’ve been celebrating that as part of a journey we are on, it sounds a bit cliché but it’s been nice.
“When you are getting beaten quite badly it is very easy to become a bit despondent, whereas they’ve turned up to training, they’ve been very keen, just really enjoying playing senior footy.”
Maffra has two winnable games coming up, against Morwell and Drouin leading into a split round break.
Given finals are out of the equation, Robbins said the side had set its sights on trying to pick up as many wins as possible before the year was out.
“Where we finish, of course we’d love to win games of footy, we are a very proud club, we think if we stick to our own the good times will come in the not-too-distant future,” he said.
“We’ll just keep trying to learn and work on the stuff we think in the long run will serve us well.”
As tough as some of the losses have been against teams such as Leongatha, Wonthaggi and Traralgon, the Eagles coach said there was positives to gain.
“You learn a lot playing those sides,” he said.
“To watch the other sides, the way they play their football and learn from them, Jarryd Blair (Wonthaggi), Brett Eddy, Mark Collison, (Tom) Schneider (all Traralgon), (Troy) Harley, some of our defenders playing on those sort of guys and guys in the middle of the ground, wingers learning to play on a guy like Isaac Chugg (Wonthaggi), how to hold their width and learn their craft and then watch the vision of it again and learn from that has been good.”
Wonthaggi has been the team that has impressed the Maffra coach the most.
TIME ran out for Sale.
Down by 39 points at three quarter time, the Magpies slammed on five final quarter goals to cut the margin back to 13 points, before the timekeepers did what their job description said they have to do.
While the Power led at every change, and ended up winning 13.4 (82) to 10.9 (69), Sale kept pace up until the third term, when the visitor’s made use of a clear scoring end at Sale Oval.
The Magpies were only eight points down at halftime, but were held scoreless in the third.
Sale then had their turn kicking with the advantage, and equalled the effort in terms of goals their opponents managed.
However, where Sale was unable to score at all, Wonthaggi managed to kick 1.1 (7), which in a game decided by 13 points, gave them just enough breathing space.
Jack Blair stood out for the winners, as did Noah Anderson, Jakeb Thomas, Josh Bates, Jack Hutchinson and Isaac Chugg.
Best for Sale was Hudson Holmes, Shannen Lange, Kane Martin, Rohan Diamond, Jarrod Freeman and Jack McLaren.
The Magpies did not drop out of the top five as a result, but for all intents and purposes, it appears they can now no longer finish any higher than fifth.
With four points separating Sale from sixth-placed Morwell, it is looking all the more likely the Round 16 clash between the Tigers and Magpies in Morwell will decide who plays finals.
Sale can make life easier for themselves by knocking off a team above them on the ladder, and one gets the feeling they are due to achieve such a result.
The Magpies travel to Moe this Saturday, and will certainly rate their chances against an opponent it has lost to just once in the ‘return’ fixture since 2013.
There was better news for Sale in the reserves, as club legend Shane Fyfe played his 300th game.
The five-time senior best-and-fairest winner was given a milestone win to celebrate.
In what was a great story, Sale had three 300 gamers all playing in the one game: Chris Laverty, Chris Hudson and Fyfe.
MORWELL overcame the Ablett factor.
The appearance of arguably the greatest footballer to ever live wasn’t enough to get Drouin over the line.
The Tigers claimed an important victory on the road, winning 11.10 (76) to 9.13 (67).
Perhaps unfairly for Morwell, the win was somewhat overshadowed by Gary Ablett Junior pulling on the maroon and gold.
Another chapter to the Ablett-Drouin story was added last Saturday, when The Little Master ran out to play for the club where his famous father cut his teeth.
Gary Jr had 25 touches and kicked two goals for the Hawks – one off each foot.
While the Tigers led at every change, they were challenged the whole way through – and very nearly lost it.
A five goal opening term gave the visitor’s a solid base, and halfway through the third quarter, Morwell was 42 points up.
Then strange things started to happen.
Drouin added three goals in seven minutes against the run of play, and cut the margin back to 22 points at three quarter time.
Ablett kicked his first goal on the eve of three quarter time, and added another five minutes into the last.
An Ablett sidestep and left-foot finish was followed by Ryan Taylor finding the middle four minutes later.
Morwell held sway, but a goal to Hawk James McKellar at the 21-minute mark left the match on a knifes edge.
Zac Carlson however saved the day for Morwell. The youngster kicked the last goal of the game, and the Tigers’ only score for the quarter at the 26-minute mark, netting a huge sigh of relief from all those wearing yellow and black.
If they had of lost this game, it would have just about been season over.
Sam Walsh did a good job, as did coach Boyd Bailey, Dan Musil, Aidan Quigley, Blake Couling and Brandon Mcauliffe.
For the Drouin players lucky enough to play alongside Ablett, those who made a good impression were Jarrod Marshall, Kye Quirk, Tim Hancock, Charlie Bethune, Jordan Kingi and McKellar.
An estimated crowd of 2500 came to Drouin to see Ablett, forcing parking restrictions to be placed on the reserve.
WE’VE said it before and we’ll say it again – ya still gonna have to beat Leongatha to win this premiership.
The Parrots reminded everyone in league circles why they are on top of the ladder, doing a number on Traralgon and winning with relative ease, 14.14 (98) to 4.8 (32).
Jackson Harry was prominent for the winners, as was defender Sean Westaway, who saw the visitor’s only kick one goal after the main break.
Aaron Heppell and Tallin Brill also did a good job, as did team leaders Cade Maskell and Ben Willis.
Better players for Traralgon were Tye Hourigan, Tom Schneider, Max Jacobsen, Luis D’Angelo, Harvey Neocleous and Sammy Hallyburton.
MOE did what they had to.
The Lions beat Warragul 19.12 (126) to 7.9 (51).
The game blew out after halftime, as Moe added 10 goals to four at Ted Summerton Reserve.
If the Gulls’ intentions were to get under the skin of the opposition, they succeeded in that regard, as a huge number of 50 metre penalties were paid for retaliation and backchat.
Riley Baldi racked up plenty of touches for the victors. He received good support from Nick Prowse who kicked four goals, and Harry Pepper who nabbed five.
Jasper Alger kicked three goals in a losing cause, while Tom Stern, Jake Hughes, Nick Stevenson, Tom Hobbs and Patrick Ireland were all handy.
