FOOTBALL
GIPPSLAND LEAGUE
By LIAM DURKIN
THE eventual fairy tale finish to Moe’s Gippsland League season will hopefully not detract from the grand final itself.
If the second semi-final between the Lions and Leongatha a fortnight ago was one of the greatest games in the league’s history, Saturday’s grand final was surely one of the most epic.
Exactly how the game played out has probably already been largely forgotten by those who took part. Moe because it is still celebrating; Leongatha because it has likely moved on.
It is doubtful either club will review the game for the purpose of future improvement either. The nature of football means both teams will look somewhat different next season, as will eight others in the competition.
A review would be pointless anyway: there was literally nothing tactically that either side could have done differently to change the result.
As one highly astute Moe assistant coach would say, all the teams could do was “play footy”.
Such was the quality on both sides, a lot of players arguably didn’t need much coaching anyway.
Leongatha threw absolutely everything at Moe in its quest to win a sixth premiership from 10 starts.
The Parrots had their chances, plenty of them in fact, but lost an all-time classic 14.7 (91) to 11.17 (83).
You’d be hard pressed to get a better grand final. Neither side deserved to lose.
It was the two best teams, featuring some of the competition’s best players and best coaching minds.
Standards were high right across the board. Sale Umpires Association got the main game, and did the occasion justice. The association said some years ago that the standard of umpiring needed to match the standard of competition. They certainly upheld that mantra at the weekend. There was no howlers, no soft free kicks, and both teams got a fair share of 50/50 decisions.
Regardless of result, the players who took part were involved in an instant classic. It was a privilege just to see it live.
Coaches on both sides knew as much. Amid the euphoria of Moe’s win, coaches from either team sought each other out before heading out to the middle. All were equally lost for words at what they had just witnessed.
Nerve-killing moments, big collisions and momentum swings all transpired on a sun-baked Terry Hunter Oval in front of a crowd nudging 7000 people.
If it wasn’t already clear, the crowd was split into two distinct groups: those wanting to see Moe win, and those wanting to see them fumble at the finish after reportedly spending big. The huddles made that obvious. Traralgon supporters swelled the Leongatha huddle at quarter time and three quarter time. There was only maroon and blue colours over at the Moe camp.
Rotations were high early to compensate the 25 degree day.
The Parrots were forced to make a late change, with veteran midfielder Luke Bowman coming out, replaced by first emergency Will Littlejohn. The change trickled down to the reserves, with Leongatha in the curtain raiser to the main game.
Moe was at absolute full strength in all departments: Gold Coast gun and Moe local Bailey Humphrey was runner one, and fellow Moe footballer Tom Matthews (now with AFL club Melbourne), runner number two. Humphrey was given leave by Damien Hardwick to attend the grand final, on the same night the Suns had their best-and-fairest (incidentally, Humphrey polled the same number of votes as prized recruit Christian Petracca).
The Lions’ own prized recruit of the last two years, former Collingwood and Adelaide player Ben Crocker, kicked the first goal of the decider, using his trademark set shot banana routine three minutes in.
Swirling conditions blowing in from the west made things slightly tricky. One windy moment late arguably decided the game.
Another former AFL player on the ground got busy at the other end. Leongatha’s Fraser Phillips was on a heater early, kicking three goals to take the Parrots to a five-point lead at the first break.
Phillips, with his very distinct, lumbering kicking style, got on the board after a flying intercept, pick up and goal, followed by a goal on the run from long range in front of the TEDAS clubrooms.
Leongatha chose to double team Crocker, while Moe winger Ben Maslen was given the task of tagging Dyson Heppell (another AFL player on show) in the first half.
The tag was dropped after the main break, and Heppell just exploded, running amok to rack up close to 40 disposals.
While it was difficult to pick a group of standout players, there was absolutely no doubt Heppell was the single best player on the ground.
The former Essendon captain and Leongatha local still virtually plays football fulltime through his business interests. It certainly shows by how effortlessly he covers the ground and thumps the ball a mile off one step. How he still isn’t playing for the Bombers is anyone’s guess.
Moe went into the quarter time break with some confidence, after a calculated Scott van Dyk set shot swung in from just inside 50.
The co-captain was escorted from the wing following a 50 metre penalty, and used all the experience from his previous 92 goals to kick truly.
Grand finals lend themselves to unique moments.
It was van Dyk’s first goal of the season. He played as a forward in juniors for Moe however, and won a senior goal-kicking a decade ago. Here he was 10 years later slotting one on the biggest stage.
The unique moments kept coming.
Some quick-thinking from Riley D’Arcy to kick the ball out of midair from a boundary throw in during the first quarter was the precursor that saw him spend some time in the middle of the ground.
Like Shaun Grigg before him, D’Arcy became a premiership ruckman in the most unthinkable of circumstances.
The Lions needed someone, or a group of someone’s, to stop Leongatha giant Jack Sheridan.
After word got out that there was a player from Old Geelong who registered 100 hit outs in a game last year, the Parrots put the groundwork in to getting his signature.
As usual, they succeeded, and Sheridan’s silver service to Heppell, Tom Marriot and Kim Drew on grand final day saw Moe roll D’Arcy, Declan Keilty, Nick and Chris Prowse all through at some stage to try and equalise.
If Heppell was best on, Sheridan was arguably the most influential. The clearance count was a staggering 53 to 34 Leongatha’s way.
Moe enjoyed its best quarter in the second, kicking five goals to two.
The Parrots registered six behinds however, creating a theme for the rest of the game.
The Lions started positively, taking a two-goal lead inside the first four minutes following snapping efforts from Myles Poholke and Crocker.
Leongatha responded through another familiar sight, with Cade Maskell running down from halfback to accept a handball receive on the edge of 50. He took a deliberate approach to size up the goals and caressed the ball through in front of the Pud Northe Bar.
Poholke hit the post some time later, leading Drew to comment “you can’t kick seven straight again”, in reference to Poholke’s insane individual effort from the semi-final.
Continuing what had happened in the first term, Lions defender Brock Smith was given a 50 metre penalty, and scored his first goal of the season to get the lead back out to two goals. Smith later had no hesitation declaring it as the best goal he’d ever kicked.
The margin was back under a goal on the approach to halftime, after Aaron Heppell converted for Leongatha, only for Poholke to respond in the depths of red time.
By now the game was befitting of a big final, with kicks off one step common such was the pressure.
The Lions looked to be breaking away early in the second half, and got out to a 21 point lead inside the first 10 minutes.
It started with a Blake Mullane goal from close range after being taken without the ball, and was followed by a Harry Pepper snap at the six minute mark.
Leongatha needed the next major, and their task looked more difficult after Phillips hobbled off.
You could sense the Parrots used the moment to rise collectively however, and a Jack Hume goal had the margin back to 15 points in what had been a 10 minute period where it felt like a lot happened.
Moe too had some big moments, notably when D’Arcy (playing ruck) nabbed Dyson Heppell holding the ball.
For a key forward to stop Heppell in his tracks, it was hard not to think “these blokes are on”.
Those thoughts were only confirmed a short time later.
You can’t have a grand final without some Mirboo North magic.
Max Woodall, from an almost impossible angle hard up against the boundary line, right at the 50 metre intersection, and with the crowd a hair’s breadth over his shoulder, and with space for only a few steps to run up, sent the ball through post height. If the great Timmy Trail had seen it, he would have nodded in approval. Dyson Heppell did.
The goal sparked an appropriate response from his Moe teammates, who were back out to a 21 point lead at the 15 minute mark.
Leongatha may have been feeling the pinch for the first time. The Parrots went forward a few times, but were caught behind on every occasion.
Fatigue was starting to show and the skill level dropped, but Leongatha just kept coming. Amazingly, the Parrots kicked three goals in six minutes to breathe new life into their game. Leongatha goaled after being paid advantage during a scramble, before who else but Dyson Heppell appeared to just stand unguarded at the top of the goal square to accept a handball coming out of stoppage.
The Parrots had a chance to hit the lead on the three quarter time siren, but missed a difficult set shot after a holding the ball decision.
Momentum however had shifted once again.
Scores were level at three quarter time, setting up a grandstand finish.
Neutral supporters (of which there was close to none) had got the game they wanted. Pro and anti-Moe fans were still in with a chance of seeing their desired result.
Leigh Poholke struck a reasonably calm figure for his final on-ground address of the season. He reiterated the fact Moe was doing well in a lot of departments.
“Across the ground is super,” he said.
Uncontested marks however was the issue.
“Find the short kicks,” he said.
There was no way a grand final address could not involve some sort of rev up however.
Moe players didn’t need many words for inspiration though.
All they had to do was look around.
Speaking in a low and inaudible tone, Leigh Poholke rose to say “and then the crowd will get behind you”, after which there was not much left to say.
As if it wasn’t already obvious, the first goal was absolutely critical.
It didn’t come until after the 10 minute mark. In the time between, there was some huge hits, notably Aaron Heppell and Tom Long colliding in the middle of the ground – local football’s equivalent of two freight trains crashing head on.
Desperation reached new levels. A flying smother from Pepper got the ball out of bounds, while Leongatha just laid tackle after tackle.
They also kicked point after point, replicating the second term by registering six behinds.
Smith left the field with a blood rule at the eight minute mark, as Moe started to resemble the walking wounded. Moe head trainer Nathan Clarke estimated he only saw around 10 minutes of the actual game, such was the chaos on the bench.
Keilty was also cramping, and had to scream for a replacement. The long distance from the gate to the interchange box at Traralgon meant rotations were naturally slower as well.
Harri Sim was also on one leg, but thankfully, whatever energy he had left, it was enough for him to snap through a goal after getting front and centre at the 14 minute mark to get the margin back to one point.
He was very nearly snapped in half himself late in the game, after a fair but brutal bump from Patrick Ireland – a man at least 20kgs heavier.
Drew had goaled a few minutes earlier, walking the walk after calling his shot which virtually matched Woodall’s effort, just on the opposite side of the ground.
When that happened, the Parrots were looking hard to deny.
A huge but convincing call by the goal umpire to signal touched on the goal line from a Zavier Lamers set shot from just inside 50 made it a two-point game in favour of Leongatha.
“I’m waiting for the flag,” league stats man Paul Carter said on commentary for TRFM, in a cheeky reference to the scoreboard-gate drama of the first semi-final two weeks ago.
Players too had some time to defuse the seriousness of the situation – or at least chose to.
Keilty, standing alongside opponent Tallin Brill at the interchange gates, simply said “pretty tight Brillsy”.
Brill and James Harmes (another AFL player) got into a small scrap that saw the emergency umpire bound out of the box. The pressure was so much, even Crocker dropped a chest mark. By the 20 minute mark, I was shaking so much I could barely hold my pen.
Moe’s big guns combined to bring down Leongatha’s biggest at the 22 minute mark. Smith caught Dyson Heppell holding the ball. He then found Trent Baldi free in the middle of the ground; Smith kept running, and put the ball out in front of D’Arcy, whose set shot held its line and saw the Lions back in front by three points.
It was the sixth lead change of the match.
Gippsland League General Manager, Daniel Heathcote, got to both benches to remind them what the protocol was for extra time.
The Lions went all chips in at the next centre bounce, with its best midfielders given responsibility.
The Parrots, and Dyson Heppell especially, weren’t finished just yet.
Heppell sent a long ball deep inside 50, where Jack Hume was isolated against Tom Blackshaw. The Moe defender then had what may well end up being the moment he is forever remembered, flying in front of Hume to punch the ball through for a behind.
The umpires put the whistle away over the next few minutes, before Dyson Heppell again popped up following a bombardment of inside 50s to the Parrots.
This time, he had a set shot 50 metres out at the 25 minute mark.
The wind was still playing havoc however, and it was swirling so much, it literally blew the ball onto the side of Heppell’s boot as he kicked. The resultant behind made it a one-point game.
Maslen, who had only minutes earlier sat under a high ball inside defensive 50 to take a crucial mark, found himself with the ball on the edge of the attacking 50 at the 27 minute mark.
He milked as much time as possible, and was the beneficiary of a great contested grab from Trent Baldi at half-forward, who in turn got the ball off teammate Alex Dijkstra, who pulled in a tremendous stealing grab in the middle of the ground.
The Maslen ball was rebounded, only for Moe to have numbers to pump it back inside.
Pepper stayed at ground level, and with the ball beating a huge pack of players, he threw it on the right boot, seemingly oblivious to where the goals were.
The ball bounced on its end, went high, and went true, tumbling through for the match-winner.
Humphrey got the message out that there was a minute left.
Some nerve-killing moments played out as Moe looked to run the clock down. Youngster Jordan Shields took an intercept mark diving backwards to save the day, before the ball ended up deep inside Moe’s forward 50 when the siren sounded.
Appropriately, the man who blew the siren was Brad Law – son of Moe’s last premiership coach, Alby Law.
Close to 60 years of emotions spilled out onto the ground, as Moe supporters charged onto the arena.
At the presentation, Heppell received the medal for best-on-ground as judged by the umpires. Harmes won the Stan Aitken Medal as best player judged by the TRFM commentary team.
Picking Moe’s best players was difficult, as everyone had strong moments. The top six was given to van Dyk, D’Arcy, Harmes, Nathan Scagliarini, Aaron Paxton and Keilty.
Marriott, Maskell, Dyson Heppell, Sheridan, Tim Sauvarin and Aaron Heppell were highly commended for Leongatha.
The Parrots were gracious in defeat. League best-and-fairest winner Ben Harding made the effort to get to Moe’s congregation on the ground to congratulate the winners.
Moe players also shared a beer with Leongatha players in their rooms after the game, taking off their medals before entering.
Leigh Poholke kept it brief, simply saying “it’s coming home” up on stage.
Indeed it was.
For the first time since 1967.
Long-suffering Moe supporters finally saw it: a senior premiership.
Just two words were all that was needed: ‘It’s over’.
