AFTER a month of hard footy, during which Wonthaggi defeated three of the Gippsland League’s finals contenders in three weeks; Moe by a point, Leongatha by 17 and Sale by 13, the Power found the task a lot more to their liking at Drouin on Saturday.
Wonthaggi came out of the blocks strongly with a five-goal to nil first quarter, with all of the usual suspects continuing their good form including Aiden Lindsay, Ryan Sparkes, Toma Huther and the likes of Brodie Mabilia, and Mitch Hayes on the ball, up against Ryan Taylor the opposing ruckman, Kye Quirk, the captain Jarrod Marshall, Seb Amoroso and others.
But it was invariably Wonthaggi who was winning the clearances with Aiden Lindsay prominent, and they had plenty of good targets up forward with Cooper McInnes and Jack Hutchinson operating like a well-oiled machine.
Both Hutchinson and McInnes were among the goal scorers in a positive opening, the final one for the quarter a well-worked passage through the hands of Reid, Sparkes, Hayes, Anderson, Chugg and finally McInnes for the team’s fifth.
The Power defence was already in charge with Kyle Reid, Jakeb Thomas, Jack Blair, Jye Gilmour and Jordan Staley all playing their roles, not only nullifying their own opponents but getting across to help or coming forward to intercept in another complete display by them.
Drouin’s James McKellar ran into an open goal straight after the restart for their first for the day, but Wonthaggi soon replied with two in a matter of minutes to Josh Bates, both of them the result of 50 metre penalties, that put him right on the goal line.
In an effort to even it up a little, a huge 50 metre penalty to Drouin’s Tim Hancock, through the centre, allowed them to pull one back.
Wonthaggi had most of the play through the middle of the quarter and peppered the scoring zone before both Cooper McInnes and Tom Davey kicked check-side goals to extend the Power’s lead.
The game lacked the intensity of the Power’s past month of footy against Moe, Leongatha and Sale and they continued on from there with a goal to Hutchinson before Drouin hit back with a couple.
Wonthaggi’s flankers including Chugg and Anderson were lowering their eyes coming forward and the Power was making good use of its forward entries, either generated by a winning on-ball unit, better numbers at the contest around the ground, or rebounding out of the league’s leading defence.
The Power went to the half time break 53 points clear and two goals within minutes of the restart by Sparkes and Hutchinson continued the trend. Marshall pulled one back for Drouin but Wonthaggi had the game well under control midway through the third quarter as Cooper McInnes restored the margin.
Wonthaggi went on to record a convincing win over Drouin, with the reduced intensity of the contest a welcome relief after the past month of finals-like footy.
