Moe produced one of the upsets of the year so far, coming from behind to record a morale-boosting win over Sale, a side that has featured deep into the finals in recent years.
"After beating Wonthaggi, it was great to get back to good form again and beat a side above us on the ladder. It will give the boys some much needed confidence," said Moe coach Adrian Burgiel.
The match highlighted a big round eight of the Gippsland League, which wrapped up with a Queen’s Birthday clash between Traralgon and Morwell.
Led by James Blaser, the Lions turned a twenty-point deficit at half time, into a 27-point win.
"James Blaser was unbelievable all day. We were down by 20 points at half time, probably should have been more, he (Blaser) basically kept us in the game…Tom Long did a fantastic job too on John Gooch," said Burgiel.
The crowd got behind the home team, as it stormed to the lead in the third term and went on to kick four goals to one in the last, to take the win.
"The Moe fans were rowdy in the last half, they really got us going," said Burgiel, who kicked a bag of four of his own.
Despite being without some of his best players, the man at the helm of Sale couldn’t hide his disappointment.
"Extremely disappointed with our performance. The game was ours for the taking at half time and we just stopped working. It seem that we wanted it bad enough, which is surprising given spots in the top five are up for grabs," said Travis Ronaldson.
"We have missed an opportunity to start climbing the ladder and now we are back to square one," he said.
Leongatha V Drouin
The ladder leader Leongatha stamped its authority on the competition with a 77-point win over Drouin.
Holding its opponent goalless, the Parrots stormed to a 41-point lead at quarter time.
The Hawks managed to close the gap with a six goal to three-second quarter, at half time the margin was back to 25-points.
However the home team was back at its best in the third, booting eight goals to one to lead by 69-points at three quarter time.
"The last two weeks we have been in a winning position at three quarter time and we haven’t really nailed them … let’s make a statement," said coach Beau Vernon during his address.
Leongatha kicked five goals to three in the last to run out a comfortable winner.
"Very pleasing effort today, offensively I thought we were fantastic," said Vernon.
Jake Best booted a bag of seven, while Chris Verboon finished the match with six.
Wonthaggi V Bairnsdale
Four goals from Troy Harley and three, in a best on ground performance from Phillip Young, helped Wonthaggi to a big win over Bairnsdale.
Bouncing back from last weekend’s disappointing one-point loss to Drouin, the Power surged to an early lead, and never looked back.
The home team led by 37-points at quarter time and despite a second term lapse, bounced back to win by 78-points.
Warragul V Maffra
Maffra has stormed to second on the ladder with a big win over Warragul.
The Eagles hit the front early with a seven goal to two opening term.
The visitor led by 59 points at half time and 75 at three quarter time, before a dominant 10-goal last term saw it run out a 126-point winner.
Darren Sheen top-scored with a bag of seven.
While Coach Steve Kidd led the charge for Warragul with three majors.
Traralgon V Morwell
Six goals from Tim Johnston has helped an injury plagued Maroons to victory on one of the Gippsland League's biggest days of the year.
The Queen's Birthday clash came down to the wire, with neighbours Traralgon and Morwell locked at 62-apiece at three quarter time.
"It was tight there but then we just ran away with it. It was excellent … the boys finally got some reward for some hard work," said Traralgon coach Mark Collison.
With Lee Stockdale and Josh Jennings already sidelined with injuries, the Maroon’s couldn’t afford any more casualties when it lost Tim Northe, Danny Campbell and Adrian Slottje to injury.
Without an interchange, the home team was then forced to play the start of the last term with 17, after Mick Stockdale was sent off with a yellow card for striking.
"It's going to be a dog fight now 17 v 18. This is where we show a bit of character, we hold on for 15 minutes and we get Mick on okay? We can still break them believe it!" Collison said during his three quarter time address.
Collison’s calls were answered, as his side booted four goals to none in the last to run out a 19-point winner.
"It was getting tight there but then we just ran away with it. It was excellent boys finally got some reward for some hard work," said Collison, who was impressed by the character of his undermanned side.
"Every week is getting tighter and tighter. We keep looking on our bench we got one. We played the last quarter with 17, I’m just rapt to get the win, we were really under the pump there," he said.
The coach was full of praise for ruckman Ben Amberg, who was named among the Maroon’s best.
"He was amazing, such a warrior, we were pretty lucky he fell into our laps. Just turned up one night
, wanted to train after moving down here to study Medicine and he’s been unreal…he truly is one of the best players in the competition I think," Collision said.
Last Modified on 15/06/2015 13:53