Bairnsdale D Moe
Moe has gone from a season high to a season low in the space of a week, conceding a big lead to go down to Bairnsdale in round nine of the Gippsland League.
“Very disappointing after last week, to go out and do that. We did some really good things, played some really good patches but at the same time we were really horrible in patches. We are just lacking consistency,” said Moe coach Adrian Burgiel after the game.
Fresh from a confidence boosting win over Sale, the Lions picked up where they left off, booting five goals one, to lead the Redlegs by 26-points at quarter time.
Bairnsdale clawed its way back into the contest in the second to get within 20-points of Moe at half time.
“We were 39 points up half way through the second quarter and playing some really good footy,” Burgiel said.
In one of its best performances of the year so far, the Redlegs fought its way back into the contest to lead by one point at three quarter time.
However Moe once again got the jump on its opponent in the last.
“We were 17-points up in the last but we just couldn’t finish them off. We let too many goals go through,” Burgiel said.
The Redlegs kicked five goals to four to steal the win.
“They (Bairnsdale) got on top of us. They got a run on us and we made some bad decisions that cost us the match. We stopped running and they kicked some good goals,” Burgiel said.
The much-needed win was Bairnsdale’s second for the season.
“Look it was a great win by the boys. Moe got off to a great start. To be down by 39-points midway through the second and to fight back, and then again in the last once again Moe played really good footy and gained ascendency, the boys found something and it was fantastic to get the points,” said Bairnsdale coach Shaun Mooney, who was particularly pleased by the performance of his younger players.
“Having some experienced players still out of the team has given us an opportunity to play some young players and they’ve really stood up. We had 13 players aged 21 and under, it was a great effort. And the experienced players really led the way when the game was in the balance,” said Mooney.
Jacob Green top scored for the Redlegs with three majors, but it was Cameron Streeter who was named best on ground.
It’s not all bad news for Moe, both Burgiel and Mark Engley kicked four apiece, while James Blaser booted three.
Maffra d Wonthaggi
Maffra sent a message to the rest of the competition, leading at every change to produce a convincing 62-point win over Wonthaggi, in the battle between second and third.
Booting a bag of eight goals, full forward Darren Sheen was the star as the Eagles outclassed one of the best defensive teams in the competition.
“Got a couple of cheap ones, I’ll take them. We tried to play four quarters today and we did. Last week against Warragul we played three and a half quarters and today we put it together for four and the scoreboard shows that, we had a good win” Sheen said.
However, there has been a big focus at Maffra this year on its defensive efforts inside its own 50.
“Forwards can become lazy and that’s one of the things we are working on, to turn the ball over and keep it in there as long as we can and try to get goals,” he said.
Sale d Drouin
Sale bounced back from a disappointing loss to Moe, to beat top five side Drouin by 51 points.
“Really pleased that we responded to the disappointment of last week to put in a strong four quarters,” said Magpies coach Travis Ronaldson.
Bolstered by a big list of inclusions, the Magpies stormed to the lead early and never looked back.
“We had some good ins which certainly helped but it was our increased effort, work rate and intensity which gave us the opportunity to win,” said Ronaldson who is confident his side’s best footy is still to come.
“While the Moe game is certainly one that got away, we hit the midway point on the positive side of the ledger at 5 - 4 with our season in our hands. I am hoping we will continue to improve through to the end of the year and that our best footy is still in front of us,” he said.
With three each, Jake Thomas and William Stephenson were among nine individual goal kickers for the Magpies.
Drouin coach Bob McCallum was Drouin’s best, while Ben Hughes top scored with three majors.
Leongatha D Morwell
Morwell has extended Joel Soutar’s coaching contract to include 2016.
The two-time premiership captain was elevated to coach following the round two sacking of Dean Warren.
“It’s good. I’m really happy. The club has backed me in which is great and the boys have as well. Hopefully we can get some results in the next couple of weeks and get back on track,” said Soutar following Saturday’s round nine loss to Leongatha, during which he made his long awaited return from injury.
Leading by 18-points at quarter time and 32 at half time, the ladder leader had the upper hand early.
“They came out and took it to us early. They played really good footy we had to try to shut their run down,” Soutar said.
Morwell booted seven goals to three in a dominant third quarter performance, which saw the Tigers trail the Parrots by just two points at three quarter time.
“We came out in the third, got on top and gave ourselves every chance to win,” Soutar said.
The home team booted the first goal of the last, but were out-run by the flag favorite, which slammed on seven goals straight to run out a 39-point winner.
“We kicked the first, but couldn’t get that second one and then they went on to kick six in a row. They are a good running side and we just couldn’t shut them down, especially early. In the end we just ran out of legs,” Soutar said.
The loss came at a cost for the reigning premier, with Devon Soutar suffering a hamstring injury.
Cade Maskell top scored for Leongatha with four goals, while Aaron Heppell was named best on ground.
The Parrots finished the first half of the season on top of the ladder, with eight wins and one loss.
Traralgon d Warragul
Traralgon stormed to third on the Gippsland League ladder with a 135-point win over bottom of the table, Warragul.
“The boys played really well and we had a pretty good win. We just gave them the respect we give every team, we did our homework and put into place a plan to win,” said Maroons coach Mark Collison.
The win has elevated Traralgon to third on the ladder, a game clear of Wonthaggi, Sale and Drouin.
“Other than our first game against Leongatha, we have played really good football. However we still need to find some consistency. We have only played one four-quarter game all season, when we can find some consistency, we will get some better results,” Collison said.
The Maroons are six and three at the half way mark of the season and are starting to get on top of a big list of injuries.
“We got Lee Stockdale and Michael Burge back on Saturday and Josh Jennings is not far away,” Collison said.
Last Modified on 22/06/2015 15:20