FOOTBALL
GIPPSLAND LEAGUE
By LIAM DURKIN
HOMETOWN joy was had by most teams in Round 4 of the Gippsland League.
Four of five clubs with hosting duty celebrated victories at the weekend.
Moe 15.13 (103) def Wonthaggi 9.9 (63)
THEY’VE just got too much class.
When you look at who the best players were for Moe at the weekend, it is somewhat easy to correlate it to a 40-point win over Wonthaggi.
The Lions won 15.13 (103) to 9.9 (63) against a determined Power outfit at Gaskin Park, Churchill.
Wonthaggi, to its credit, kept playing to win, but when you are up against these names, the gap between expectation and execution only widens.
Moe’s top six listed players were Brock Smith, Blake Mullane, Myles Poholke, James Harmes, Paul Gatpan and Jordan Shields.
To the uninitiated, they are just names on paper. To those in the know, they are some of the league’s top echelon.
Smith, Poholke and Harmes are former AFL players. Mullane is a former VFL captain, Shields is training with a VFL club, and Gatpan is with Gippsland Power.
Wonthaggi wasn’t lacking class either. It had former Collingwood players Isaac Chugg and Jarryd Blair as its best, along with club great Aiden Lindsay, who has spent some time in the VFL.
It’s just Moe had all of them covered.
Melbourne tragic Ralf Horowitz was once asked how his beloved Demons could improve in season 2024, after bombing out in straight sets the previous year.
“I can think of six things,” the equally straight-shooting professional gambler said.
“May, Lever, Gawn, Viney, Petracca, Oliver – there you go – if they all play well, we’ll have a good year.”
Ditto Moe, or any team with half-a-dozen or so absolute top-end players for that matter.
Brisbane won the premiership last season. Adelaide finished on top. Both clubs had the most players out of any in the All Australian team.
It’s not rocket science.
The Lions of Moe town kicked four goals to one in the opening term against Wonthaggi, which effectively gave them enough breathing space to manage the game.
Moe was forced to adjust on the fly, following a selection anomaly.
Moe’s recruitment in recent years (which has actually been spoken about since before COVID) has been a constant talking point.
The Lions were at 39 out of 39 player points at the weekend.
The latest dilemma was such: key position players Chris and Nick Prowse were at a wedding. Gippsland Power graduate Juddson Ryan would have ordinarily been the next man in, however, his selection would have exceeded the available player points.
The solution was to bring club champions Ben Morrow and Tom Long into the team. The pair last played seniors for Moe in 2023. Long had retired, but has shown his face again this season, suiting up for the reserves.
Morrow spent a year at Yallourn Yallourn North in 2024, and played some Moe reserves games on the comeback from injury last year.
On a day of obscurity, Morrow shared ruck duties with Kurt Holt – the same Holt who called Gaskin Park home during his time at Churchill.
Morrow and Holt played against each other in 2024, the same year Kurt’s dad Brendan won Churchill’s senior best-and-fairest.
Brendan was back in familiar territory at the weekend, kicking a goal at the Cougar’s Booth end, only this time, wearing a maroon and blue jumper.
Seeing the Holts playing for Moe at Gaskin Park probably wasn’t on too many bingo cards.
The Power outscored the Lions in the second quarter, and went into halftime only 18 points down.
Moe broke the game open in the third however, slamming on seven goals to one.
Wonthaggi’s much vaunted press (which has been in play for well over a decade), was given little, if any, opportunity to be implemented, as the Lions controlled most of the play.
The Power was perhaps overawed at times. Blair was heard on the side lines voicing his frustration at a teammate after they’d stutter-stepped near a ground ball in the centre circle.
He took the opportunity to slag former Collingwood teammate Ben Crocker as well.
Crocker kicked two goals, and was put on ice for the last quarter.
Jarryd’s younger brother, the injured Jack Blair, also engaged in plenty of chat with Moe players close by, with Harmes copping most of the attention.
A lost footy kicked onto the roof of the Cougar’s Booth extended the third quarter, and was the precursor to a benign last term that saw both teams add some junk time goals.
Moe’s win was soured by the loss of co-captain Scott Van Dyk, who suffered a gruesome injury to his hand that saw tendons (the white stuff) sticking out of his right index finger.
He is expected to be out for an extended period.
The scoreboard was fairly reflective of the match, although all things equal, Wonthaggi can perhaps feel justified in taking 10 points off the final 40-point margin.
You can certainly sense the Power will be a much better team in the second half of the season, although just looking at players like Lindsay and Shannon Bray, it is hard to escape one notion: Wonthaggi looks very old.
Moe will put its feet up this week, owing to a split round, before playing its Round 5 match when everyone else plays Round 6 (don’t ask why).
Leongatha 12.18 (90) def Traralgon 11.7 (73)
THEY just never seem rushed Leongatha.
Sure, they usually win big against teams well below their level, but when they are matched up against a team expected to be around their equal, they just find a way to always be two to three goals in front.
That was again the case at the weekend, after the Parrots defeated Traralgon 12.18 (90) to 11.7 (73).
The final scoreboard flattered the visiting Maroons, who kicked two late goals (one right before the final siren) to reduce the margin to 17 points.
Really, Leongatha was a five-goal better team on the day.
What’s more, they beat Traralgon’s biggest strength.
While the Maroons usually have Tye Hourigan taking intercepts, the Parrots had a host of players doing likewise – and they didn’t need Cade Maskell to do it.
With Maskell out, players such as Hayden Lindsay, Tim Sauvarin and Sam Forrester all chipped in with timely grabs, leaving Traralgon to look all at sea on occasions.
Leongatha used all its experience to good effect, smartly getting a feel for the contest in the first 10 minutes, before kicking the first four goals of the game – the first three from set shots.
That margin meant the Maroons were playing catch-up for the rest of the game.
The end of the first quarter couldn’t come quick enough for Traralgon, and while the visitors responded with three goals in the second term, Leongatha was up to the task, equally the effort.
A nice slicing pass from Michael Jacobsen inside 50 found Maroons playing-coach Dylan Loprese who goaled, providing a highlight.
Down by 31 points at the main break, the third quarter got off to the worst possible start for Traralgon, with Jenson Garnham goaling in the first minute for the hosts.
The Maroons hit back, and enjoyed strong momentum, kicking 5.0 (30) for the quarter.
Loprese took a juggling mark and goaled at the eight-minute mark, while Connor Ambler scored shortly after getting through traffic near the goal face.
When Blair Roscoe goaled from a free kick in the pocket near the rec centre, and Jacobsen kicked one from the opposite pocket, the margin was suddenly 15 points.
Traralgon undid some of that however at the other end, after a 50 metre penalty for dissent gifted Kim Drew the easiest of goals.
Loprese could have potentially made it an 11 point ballgame at three quarter time, yet the siren beat him just as he played on from outside the arc. Had he kicked after the siren, he may have been half-a-shot.
Any hopes the Maroons had of snatching victory were quickly extinguished when Leongatha scored in the first three minutes through Justin Pellicano from 15 metres out straight in front. Garnham kicked another from just about the same position not long after.
Total demoralisation hit Traralgon when a kickout was smothered and ended in a goal, giving the Parrots three goals in six minutes before the ball had even gone down the other end.
Both teams appeared to park the bus at the 15-minute mark.
Garnham finished with four goals, while Zavier Lamers collected best afield honours for the victors.
Old Parrot stagers Tom Marriott, Aaron Heppell, Sauvarin and Drew were also prominent, as was Jack Hume, who looked threatening around goal.
Harvey Neocleous was best for Traralgon, followed by Liam Willaton, Lucas Tripodi, Jacobsen, Mitch Mustoe and Sam Walker.
Willaton put in a great run down tackle early, and kept persisting on a dull South Gippsland day.
The result is hardly panic stations for Traralgon, although a couple of edits might make for an uncomfortable review.
Some damning footage in the third quarter showed two Traralgon players standing completely still post-stoppage, while on another occasion, no one flew to impact a high ball kicked inside 50.
The Maroons were also guilty of not coming forward to defend throughout the day, meaning acres of space was left open between the arcs.
This made it incredibly hard for those trying to win the ball in that part of the ground.
At one stage, left footer Cooper Brown was left outnumbered three to one near the interchange gates.
Maffra 18.8 (116) def Morwell 13.10 (88)
RECKON Maffra’s glad to have this guy back.
A 10 goal haul from Seth Smith helped the Eagles to a 28-point win over Morwell.
The Tigers were only seven points down at the last change, but were overpowered by the home side, who won 18.8 (116) to 13.10 (88).
Smith, who was away for all of last year playing cricket in the UK, kicked four goals in the last term to effectively win the game off his own boot.
Up until then, it had been a high-scoring, goal-for-goal game.
Morwell held a slender halftime lead of two points, before Maffra hit the front with one quarter to play.
The Tigers could only conjure up one goal in the last 30 minutes, as Smith ran amok.
His effort broke the record for most goals by a Maffra player against Morwell, beating the nine kicked by Andrew Gieschen in 2001 and Adrian Burgiel in 2003.
Current Eagles coach Hayden Burgiel was surely pleased to play a small role in seeing Smith break his brother’s record.
Others to play well for the winners were Alex Carr, Elijh Berry, Jett Killoran, Thomas Scott and Harper Walker.
The win was timely for Maffra, after two tough weeks playing Moe and Leongatha.
For Morwell, it leaves the Tigers with a mountain to climb after the first month of the season.
The headline outlining Morwell’s season to come in this year’s Express preview was “all might be revealed four rounds in”.
Well, four rounds in and the Tigers have lost to Bairnsdale, Maffra and Wonthaggi – all teams that didn’t make finals last year.
As was the case last week, Morwell’s best players at the weekend were all its most experienced: Hugh Dunbar, Zac Anderson, Burkeley Macfarlane, Max Linton, Blake Couling and Aidan Quigley.
As they say, you’re only as strong as your bottom six.
The bottom six of course extends all the way down to the reserves.
Morwell’s reserves at the weekend included club president Michael Stobbart and allrounder Rick Galea filling in to make a team.
Warragul 13.10 (88) def Bairnsdale 9.7 (61)
GARY Ayres has been in this position many times.
Warragul, not so much.
The new Gulls coach has his team on top of the ladder after four rounds.
Warragul got out of Bairnsdale with a win, which as anyone in the league will tell you, is all you need to do sometimes.
The visitors kicked five goals to three in the last quarter to win 13.10 (88) to 9.7 (61) in the east.
Tom Stern, Tom Hobbs, Levi Moore, Riley Senini, Sean Masterson (safety) and Caleb McIntosh rounded out Warragul’s best.
While the result wasn’t unexpected, recent performances by the Redlegs will put the competition on notice.
Bairnsdale was tipped to be largely uncompetitive this year, but early signs have been promising. There are some quick and explosive players in the Redlegs lineup, while key forward Oscar Morrison (from Geelong) is a serious player.
Looking at who was in the best at the weekend, these are certainly not ‘average’ players simply listed in the top six to fill an administrative obligation.
Tyran Rees, Jamie Dore, Ethan East, Reece Carstairs, Cooper Harvey and Lachlan Bryne-Jones are all more than handy.
Drouin 25.23 (173) def Sale 13.14 (92)
JUST how many Sale records will be broken this year?
Not the good ones either.
In what is already becoming an unfortunate weekly occurrence, another scoring record was broken in a game involving Sale.
When Hawthorn was enjoying its most recent golden era (2013-15), it was said Alastair Clarkson identified some teams as like “batting against Bangladesh”, and told his players to show absolutely no mercy.
Drouin was the latest Gippsland League team treated to the local equivalent, and won by 81 points at home.
The game was at least high-scoring, and Sale kicked nearly 100 points – it’s just that their defence let through 25 goals at the other end.
Drouin’s final effort of 25.23 (173) to the Magpies’ 13.14 (92) was the Hawks’ highest-ever score against Sale, easily going past its previous best of 20.13 (133) in 2010.
The winning margin was also its highest-ever against Sale, while Drouin’s second and fourth quarter scores (47 and 57 points respectively) were its greatest returns against the Magpies.
Not to be outdone, youngster Jack Walsh (who has every kid’s dream with an indoor cricket facility at his home), kicked seven goals – the most by a Drouin player against Sale.
It wasn’t enough however to get in the best – those honours went to Tommy Trist, Seb Amoroso, Noah Lafrantz, Max Williams, Tyler Canute and Zayne Atkins.
Sale had three players kick three goals: Josh Butcher, Jarrod Freeman and Cooper Rand.
Butcher and Rand made up the best players, along with Tom Wrigglesworth, Thomas Glenn, Adam Wallace and Archer Gerrand.
