The TRFM Gippsland League’s top five is beginning to take shape, with four points now separating each of the teams.
Round 14 saw all 10 clubs don orange arm bands, as part of a campaign to stamp out violence against women.
Maffra stamped its authority on the competition with a ninth consecutive win, this time at the hands of the reigning premier. The victory was Maffra’s first at the Morwell ground since 2011.
The odds were against the ladder leader, with the Tigers having won seven of its past eight over the Eagles.
However the visitor got one back on Morwell, which in round five came back from 46 points down at the 11 minute mark of the third quarter, to steal the points in the last kick of the day.
It was a much different story this time around, with the Eagles kicking their way to an early lead.
The visitor led by 15 points at quarter time and 28 at half time. However the bulk of the damage came during a dominant third term which saw the Eagles slam on seven goals to Morwell’s one, to run out a 62-point winner.
Darren Sheen returned to the line up in style, with a bag of seven majors.
Leongatha V Sale
Hot on Maffra’s heels is Leongatha, which got its own back on the side that ended its unbeaten start to the year back in round five; Sale.
Saturday marked the 50th time the sides have met on the Leongatha surface, with the ledger now locked at 25 apiece.
The 76-point win was the Parrots first over the Magpies in eight encounters
and the home team didn’t muck around, kicking five goals in every quarter to run out a comfortable winner.
Jake Best was just that, eight goals saw him named best on ground.
It’s back to the drawing board for Sale, which sits a game outside the five, on equal points with Morwell.
Traralgon d Bairnsdale
Traralgon remains in the all-important third spot, after notching up its tenth win of the season, to the tune of 92-points over Bairnsdale.
The visitor got out to an early lead in the opening term, which saw its opponent unable to score.
The roles were reversed in the second, however the Redlegs failed to capitalise, managing just one goal one, to Traralgon’s one point.
The Maroons came out firing in the third, slamming on nine goals to lead by 82-points at the last change.
Coach Mark Collison was named best on ground for the visitor, alongside Hayden Britton who kicked four.
Wonthaggi d Warragul
Stringing together a much-needed two in a row, the fourth placed Wonthaggi kept its top three chances alive, with an 80-point win over Warragul.
“We have been a bit inconsistent, so great to get the win. We won against Leongatha, then went up to Sale and they beat us there...finally we have strung together two in a row,” said Power coach Rob Railton.
The much-improved Gulls led at quarter time and were right in it at half time.
“Warragul were really good, especially in the first half. They are a really young team, they are improving and you can see it in their young kids. They just couldn’t sustain it for the four quarters…was just the experience and bigger bodies that got them in the end,” Railton said.
The visitor kicked away with a five goal to one, third term, before finishing the job with seven unanswered majors in a dominant final quarter.
Troy Harley (4) and Aaron Cook (3) were among Wonthaggi’s 10 individual goal kickers.
Drouin d Moe
Drouin bounced back from consecutive losses to record one of its most important wins of 2015; the Hawks have snuck back into the top five with a 43-point win over Moe.
“It’s definitely one we needed to get, it was one of those should win games but one of those games that was always a danger,” said Drouin coach Bob McCallum.
The Hawks were coming off consecutive losses to Traralgon and Maffra.
“Two really disappointing losses…we led Traralgon at three quarter time and we led Maffra at half time and should have been in front by more,” McCallum said.
With its finals chances on the line, the visitor was on fire from the outset, and slammed on six unanswered goals in a dominant opening term which saw it lead by 37-points at quarter time.
It was a similar story in the second, with the Hawks booting four to Moe’s one, to lead by 56-points at half time.
Moe kicked six goals to three in a final term comeback, but it was too little too late as Drouin held on for the four points.
“It was definitely a confidence booster but our second half efforts left us on a bit of a downer. The game was won in the first half which took the sting out, but I said to the boys after the game it would have been nice to continue on and practice a four quarter effort, we just weren’t able to do that,” McCallum said.
Last Modified on 28/07/2015 16:11