MORWELL pulled away in the final quarter to record a 13-point win against a gallant Wonthaggi Power in a highly entertaining Gippsland League game.
“We did well enough to get the points and our best quarter was the last,” Tigers coach Damien Kerr said.
“The players appeared very reluctant in the first three quarters.
“We will have to play better than that if we are to beat Traralgon next Sunday.”
According to Kerr, Joel Soutar played his best quarter for the season and lifted his side, but it was also the magic of Robert Michaelides, with two of his five goals, that gave the Tigers that winning edge.
In the final term, the Power lost two players when full-forward Daniel Hutchison took a big mark.
As a result of the mark, Brent McFarlane fell awkwardly on his back, but Daniel Domaille was not as lucky and was transported to Latrobe Regional Hospital for a shoulder and neck injury.
Domaille was discharged late on Saturday night and both players were given the all clear yesterday.
Morwell lost wingman Adrian Fazzioli with a knee injury and was having scans in Melbourne today.
In a top class game the scores were close all day until Morwell broke away and got an 18-point break early in the last quarter.
The Power seemed to be rattled by another possible serious injury before going down by 13 points.
Michaelides was best on ground while Adam Bailey, Jeff Ryan, Brandon Bailey, Tom Crosby, and Tim Ryan also played well.
Warragul v Moe
MOE “won” the battle for the wooden spoon, losing to Warragul by five points in a lacklustre contest.
“Warragul was the better side all day and we nearly stole it from them,” Lions coach Jason Macfarlane said.
“They won in the midfield but our skill level is improving.”
Youngster Declan Keilty was accidentally knocked out by teammate Jacob Wood and took himself off 10 minutes into the third term.
At that stage Keilty was winning most of his tap outs.
Warragul was without Matt Gray who was serving a week’s suspension, but it is understood he has ligament damage and his season could be over.
Traralgon v Drouin
TRARALGON powered its way to a 74-point win over Drouin with Leigh Stockdale and Sam Dunbar kicking 12 of the team’s 22 goals.
Drouin got a great start with Pat McGrath, Steve Ballingall, and Sean Proctor running the Maroons ragged.
Drouin’s Bob McCallum was well on top of Jayden Steers in the ruck.
McCallum’s second goal of the quarter was the result of a towering mark and it gave the Hawks a 25-point lead.
Traralgon went from a 22-point deficit at quarter-time to a 23-point lead at half-time when they took control of the midfield, winning clearances and shutting down Drouin’s running game.
After half-time Drouin was still moving the ball well but its forward structure had broken down with no viable targets as Traralgon was in complete control.
Stockdale took charge with seven goals and Sam Dunbar snuck in with his first of three for the quarter.
Drouin finally kicked a goal after a 59-minute drought.
In the meantime, Traralgon had kicked 13 unanswered goals.
Leongatha v Bairnsdale
LEONGATHA’S inaccuracy in front of goals in the first quarter kept Bairnsdale in the game for the first half.
However the Parrots went on to kick 9.6 to 2.6 to win by 56 points.
Goalkicking pair Dwayne Holt and Jake Best scored nine of Leongatha’s 14 goals.
Best for the Parrots were Zac Vernon, Tas Clingan and Julian Stone while Michael Preston, Daniel Perrin and Jason Waddell were good for the Redlegs.
Sale v Maffra
Sale won the Battle of the Birds yesterday by giving Maffra a 79-point belting in front of a big crowd to all but claim the minor premiership.
Sale led all day and was never troubled by the third-placed Maffra, with Matthew Ferguson kicking six goals and taking his season’s tally to 78.
