FOOTBALL
GIPPSLAND LEAGUE
By LIAM DURKIN
HAVING tiptoed through 18 home-and-away rounds, attention now turns to Gippsland League finals.
The last round of the regular season still saw three ‘live’ games, although it soon became obvious who was going to feature in finals action.
Morwell and Warragul simply needed to win, and completed those tasks with relative ease.
Wonthaggi meanwhile needed a lot to go right, heading into the round equal-fourth but behind the Tigers and Gulls on percentage.
While the Power ended up missing out, the manner of their victory over Moe certainly sent shockwaves throughout the league.
The Lions came into the match with a double-chance secured, as did Traralgon, who will go into their qualifying final against Moe wearing home shorts at Maffra.
Moe heads in with very patchy form – two wins by less than 20 points and two losses to teams outside the top three.
Either one of the Maroons or Lions will play Leongatha for a direct ticket to the Grand Final Saturday week.
The machine that is the Parrots just continued for another year, with Leongatha finishing on top of the ladder for a sixth time in nine seasons.
Many were predicting this would finally be the year the Parrots dropped away, following a host of player movements to minor league clubs. Yet once again, it is looking like if you want to win the premiership, you will have to go through Leongatha.
Morwell 16.10 (106) def Bairnsdale 7.4 (46)
MORWELL made sure of it.
After a couple of close calls the last two seasons, the Tigers qualified for finals for the first time since 2022 after beating Bairnsdale 16.10 (106) to 7.4 (46).
Ending the regular season with an East Gippsland road trip, Morwell got the result it so desired.
What’s more, they will enter finals in red hot form with four consecutive wins under their belt.
Just if back-to-back trips to Bairnsdale and Wonthaggi (the venue for the elimination final) has an impact remains to be seen, but in the meantime, the Tigers will have every reason to be confident of getting past the first week of finals.
If they do, they will face one of their Latrobe Valley rivals Traralgon or Moe in the first semi, and could easily send either of them packing in straight sets.
Morwell couldn’t miss in the first quarter at the weekend, kicking 5.0 (30) by the time the siren sounded.
With scores from the Moe game filtering through the huddle, it only further reinforced the need for the Tigers to win and win by some distance.
The visitors added another four goals and kept Bairnsdale to just 1.0 (6) in the second term, and had victory in the bag by three quarter time, leading by 40 points.
Morwell has had a good spread of goal-kickers this season, and that was again the case at the weekend.
Big man Isaac Abas had his turn, kicking four, while Josh Galea and Nathan Noblett added three each.
While leading scorer Brandon McDonald (34 goals this season) has had to retire due to concussion, playing-coach Boyd Bailey (28), Galea (25), Abas (19) and Rosato (16) have all kicked 15 or more majors playing predominately from the midfield.
Noblett has also made a welcome return in recent weeks, and his role as a link man could be pivotal during finals.
Noblett was best against Bairnsdale, along with Burkeley Macfarlane, Aidan Quigley, Sam Walsh, Abas and Harri McColl.
Cooper Harvey played a good game for Bairnsdale, as did Tyran Rees, Ricky Tatnell, Ethan East, Oscar Clarke and Will Mitchell, who is reportedly already shopping himself around for next season with the assistance of his Brownlow Medal-winning brother.
Brayden McCarrey kicked three goals in his 100th match for the Redlegs. The pocket rocket has kicked some of the most incredible goals during his career, and would have a highlights package to rival anyway.
Showing just how much the demands on local footballers has changed, McCarrey is also one of a select few left who still plays A Grade cricket during summer and Gippsland League senior football during winter. His Bairnsdale teammate East, Traralgon pair Jackson McMahon and Tye Hourigan and Warragul’s Sean Masterson are just about the only others (there’s probably more, the point is, it’s very hard to do both).
Having got this far, Morwell will be desperate to break its finals win drought dating back to the 2014 premiership.
If 2022 was all about making finals, this year has to surely be all about winning a final.
Traralgon 22.21 (153) def Sale 11.9 (75)
TRARALGON also enters finals with four wins on the bounce.
The Maroons finished the regular season in second following a 22.21 (153) to 11.9 (75) demolition of Sale.
Having (typically) been somewhat unconvincing in the first half of the season, Traralgon appears to be hitting it straps at the most important time of the year.
The Maroons jumped out to a 37 point lead at halftime at Sale Oval, and went on their way from there against what was, understandably, a distracted Magpies outfit grappling with major off field issues.
Departing Sale playing-coach, Jack Johnstone did his best in an admirable performance, along with Archer Gerrand, Ben Hall, Cooper Whitehill, Thomas Glenn and Jack McLaren.
Jackson McMahon continued his astonishing form in front of the big sticks, nailing five for Traralgon, along with fellow playing-assistant Dylan Loprese, who returned the same amount.
McMahon’s move from defence to attack has been a masterstroke on the part of reigning premiership coach, Troy Hamilton.
McMahon and Loprese both ended the season with close to 50 goals, to be third and fourth among the league leaders.
Sam Hallyburton kicked three for good measure, while others to play well were Luis D’Angelo, Tye Hourigan and Harvey Neocleous.
Traralgon now has a rematch of last year’s qualifying final against Moe this Saturday.
Amazingly, the venue is also the same as 2024 – Maffra Recreation Reserve.
The Maroons have the luxury of choosing from all senior listed players, as its reserves have the week off due to winning the minor premiership.
Wonthaggi 17.13 (115) def Moe 6.9 (45)
I MEAN, I did pick Wonthaggi to win the flag.
It just took them 18 rounds to show why.
The Power finished the regular season with an emphatic win over Moe on the Lions’ home deck, 17.13 (115) to 6.9 (45).
The win meant Wonthaggi defeated every top-three team this season – and still missed finals by what equated to around 50 points.
A shock loss to Drouin in Round 12 effectively sealed the Power’s fate, and there can be little to no doubt a number of finals-bound teams will be pleased the Hawks did so.
Had Wonthaggi qualified, they would have had a home final this Sunday.
As it is, league pundits will have to ponder ‘what if?’, although as far as Moe is concerned, the question of ‘what now?’ is hard to escape.
Granted the Lions went into the weekend’s match knowing they could not lose the double chance, and players perhaps subconsciously played to avoid injury, the way Moe has been going the last four weeks, you could not back them with good money.
Since beating bottom side Drouin by nearly 100 points in Round 14, the Lions have only narrowly escaped ninth-placed Sale on the road (eight points), lost to Morwell, beaten Warragul (16 points), and now lost to Wonthaggi.
The final scoreboard at the weekend only told part of a multifaceted story.
The Power led 7.5 (47) to no score at quarter time, and it took Moe until the 15 minute mark of the third quarter to register their first goal.
The goal was met with bronx cheers from the Lions faithful standing at the Can Bar – a most telling sign given how devoted some Moe supporters are to their team.
Those supporters and the Moe coaching staff will surely have concerns on the eve of finals.
This is supposedly the best team Moe has had this century, yet 13 wins during a home-and-away season offers a fair counterargument (the 2023 team went 16-2).
Poor starts have been a consistent theme for the Lions in recent weeks, and may have alarm bells going off at Ted Summerton.
Moe dropped eight first quarter goals against Sale, three to none against Morwell the following week, and then, staggeringly, seven to none against the Power at the weekend.
Again, the Lions managed/rested key players Trent Baldi and Scott van Dyk, and were without ruckman Chris Prowse (illness), speedster Callum Nash, small defender Matt Heywood, midfield bull Jaryn Makepeace, key defender Declan Keilty and gun midfielder
Nathan Scagliarini, along with playing-coach Leigh Poholke, yet to drop 47 points in the first 20 minutes was far from acceptable in the eyes of the coach, irrespective of who wasn’t playing.
Poholke let rip at the quarter time break, delivering an old-fashioned, profanity-laden, tune up.
A film crew has been following the Lions at times this season for a documentary. They perhaps picked a shocking week not to have the cameras rolling.
(It would have made great TV, although whoever was on the censor buzzer would have been busy in post-production).
The coach took aim at the players’ inability to follow instructions, channeling the late, great Ron Barassi in doing so (“if we’re gonna fail, we’ll fail my way!”).
As the coach laid out, Wonthaggi’s strength was their clearance game, and weakness once the ball was out in the open.
Yet Moe played right into the hands of their opposition.
“Worst tackling team in the comp and they had 24 tackles,” Poholke lamented.
His frustration was evident in the quarter that followed.
At one stage, youngster Jordan Shields had the ball at half-back, but with no key position player to kick to as a bail out option down the line.
Poholke screamed at his nearest tall to move into position, offering some sympathy to the kid in the process, saying, “He can’t kick it 80 metres!”
Although Wonthaggi only kicked one goal for the term, the game was effectively done by the main break when the visitors led by 52 points.
The Power showed exactly why they were rated so highly in preseason, with Ryan Sparkes kicking an insane goal while hugged up against the boundary at the scoreboard end.
The best goal however came at the 16 minute mark, when Wonthaggi streamed the ball through in numbers post stoppage from Moe’s attacking 50. A chain of handballs ended with Hunter Tiziani taking a bounce and kicking truly on the run from 45 metres to blow the margin out even further.
As good a play as it was, one couldn’t help but wonder ‘where has this been all season from Wonthaggi?’
On the flipside, having known their finals chances were just about shot following the loss to Drouin, perhaps meant the Power was able to attack the last two games with real venom.
Their performances over Leongatha and Moe may keep opponents on notice even this far out from season 2026.
As far as Wonthaggi is concerned, Round 1 next year might just be Round 3.
Speaking to Power officials during the halftime luncheon, they pointed to a retched run with major injury (five ACLs in the last two years) as the main reason why the team has found itself in virtual elimination finals by the middle of the year the last two seasons.
The officials also admitted players knew following the loss to Drouin that their chances of playing finals were all but done given the games that were to come (Traralgon, Leongatha and Moe).
Wonthaggi was not predicted to win any of those, yet ended up winning two.
That the Power only missed finals by percentage after seemingly being outside calculations with four rounds to go really does emphasis how the season is a marathon, not a sprint.
Sparkes was best for Wonthaggi, followed by Brodie Mabilia, Cooper McInnes (six goals), Anthony Anastasio, Jarvis Harvey and coach Jarryd Blair, who has now completed five seasons.
His younger brother Jack only managed a handful of games this season, adding to the Power’s woes.
Key Moe midfielder, Myles Poholke and leading forward Ben Crocker both sat on the bench for the entire fourth quarter at the weekend.
The Lions will hope to have Keilty, Baldi, van Dyk and Makepeace available for the qualifying final.
Tom Blackshaw, Shields, Ben Maslen, Ben Daniher, Aaron Paxton and Alex Dijkstra more or less ensured their selection by featuring in the best.
As patchy as the form has been, Moe can look to its nearest Valley rivals for some inspiration.
Traralgon lost five consecutive games heading into the 2023 finals series, and won the first week.
Morwell lost the last round of the 2013 season by 120 points on their way to the premiership.
This finals series is set to be a cathartic one for Moe, who have all but one grade of football and netball qualified.
Warragul 18.12 (120) def Drouin 11.11 (77)
IT’S finally over – for Drouin at least.
The Hawks’ magical mystery tour of season 2025 finally made its way home at the weekend.
Drouin hosted Warragul at their actual home ground, as the ribbon was cut on the redeveloped Drouin Recreation Reserve.
The Gulls however were in no mood to provide niceties, needing a win to sew up a finals spot.
Warragul did just that, winning 18.12 (120) to 11.11 (77).
That scoreline in itself showed just how good the new deck at Drouin will be, provided there is no drainage issues moving forward.
To have close to 30 goals kicked on Drouin Recreation Reserve was an absolute rarity across the last decade, when the ground was usually reduced to a mudbath by the start of winter.
The visitors led at every change, and had the game in their keep by the main break.
Warragul brought some big guns back on the eve of finals, including Brayden Fowler (four goals) and Will Hayes (best on).
Riley Senini also returned for the Gulls, as did the Stewart boys, Jordan and Zac, and Tom Hobbs from suspension.
Sam Whibley, Isaac Wallace, Sean Masterson and Tom Stern were all productive in the win.
Best players for Drouin were Aden Quirk, Seb Amoroso, Noah Lafrantz, Zayne Atkins, Denver Lund and Rylie Baker.
Baker kicked three goals, and also won the thirds league goal kicking with 68 majors – an outstanding effort in a team that finished seventh.
The Hawks will surely want to secure his services before any minor league clubs swoop.
Drouin could yet join a minor league themselves, if their application to West Gippsland gets past a few more hurdles.
The Hawks still need AFL Gippsland and AFL Victoria to tick off the application. It is understood the Gippsland League is confident Drouin will remain in the major league.
Leongatha 21.15 (141) def Maffra 5.4 (34)
LEONGATHA fine-tuned before finals.
The Parrots won a dead rubber against Maffra, 21.15 (141) to 5.4 (34).
With the minor premiership in the bag, Leongatha showed just how professional they are, refusing to simply go through the motions at Parrot Park.
Dyson Heppell played for Leongatha at the weekend, getting in the four games he needed to qualify for finals.
The Eagles will still have teams to support during finals, with the reserves, thirds and fourths all in.
