Morwell completed the task of beating every side in the top five with a 38-point win over Leongatha.
The Tigers sit one game clear in fourth spot, but are behind Maffra by one game and a significant percentage.
Tigers’ coach Damien Kerr still has the double chance in his sights, but was pleased with the win saying his players were “pretty hungry” and it showed.
He said it was the first time this year the Tigers had played all four quarters.
Leongatha was without Colin Sanbrook and leading forward Dwayne Holt, while coach Will Thursfield played his first game for several weeks.
The Parrots were first out of the blocks with goals to Jake Best and Tas Clingan, but with Tom Crosby winning in the ruck the Tigers struck back with four goals and led by five points at the first break.
Morwell was applying great pressure on the Parrots and shut down their running players.
After Best kicked his second in the first term, Michael “Funky” Duncan took him out of the game.
The Tigers’ second quarter reflected this pressure on the scoreboard with Leongatha adding three points while Morwell kicked 4.3 and took a handy 30-point lead going into the main break.
Mannon Johnston and Robert Michaelides were causing problems for Leongatha, and even with Rhett Kelly as a tagger Michaelides was still good.
Morwell missed quite a few scoring opportunities in the third term adding 1.6 to two points to extend the lead to 33 points.
Leongatha was not coping with the pressure from Morwell, and the lead blew out to 50 points before a couple of late goals from Michael Otto.
Wonthaggi Power v Moe
Wonthaggi Power had an easy 62-point win over Moe to the disappointment of Moe coach Jason Macfarlane.
The Power were consistent for the full game and the Lions only matched them in the second half.
Macfarlane said Aaron Ware was outstanding for the Power, kicking five goals.
Ben Morrow won most of the hit-outs but James Blaser was tagged and did not receive very much protection.
Youngster Declan Keilty was excellent in the first half and Peter Yates was strong in his first game in several weeks.
Peter Ainsworth was excellent and Tom Long’s second half was also very strong.
Traralgon v Bairnsdale
Traralgon had a percentage boosting win over Bairnsdale, defeating the Redlegs by 98 points.
Traralgon president Andrew Quenault said the boys rallied after last week and were looking forward to the game against Moe.
“This will be a tough game as they are going alright,” he said.
Danny Campbell was Traralgon’s best and Michael Geary got out of his sick bed to play – according to Quenault he “ran around like a man possessed” while Lee Stockdale kicked six.
Other good players for the Maroons were Adrian Slottje, Joe Caldwell and Nathan Frietag while Bairnsdale were best served by Rhys Robinson, Paul Bills and Luke Dyer.
Maffra v Warragul
A nine-goal haul from Adrian Burgiel helped Maffra to a 95-point win over Warragul.
Warragul played its first game under thirds coach Justin Cant, following the resignation of George Morgan during the week.
The Gulls matched it with the Eagles for the first quarter, but were powerless to stop Maffra’s nine goal second term.
Warragul lifted in the third quarter outscoring Maffra five goals to four, but the Eagles went into another gear in the final term to blow out the final margin.
Ben Hughes was Warragul’s best with six goals along with Ben Drew and Mitch Nobelius.
Drouin v Sale
Ladder leaders Sale had a few anxious moments before defeating Drouin by 50 points.
After an even first half, the Magpies gradually got on top of their persistent opponents.
The best for the Magpies were Josh Dunkley, Joshua Kennedy and Chris Laverty.
Matt Ferguson, Kane Fraser and Dunkley each kicked three goals while Cam de Gooyer, Jordan Wyatt and Pat McGrath were good for the Hawks.
