MOE went into the game against reigning premiers, Leongatha, with a plan and they stuck to it all day.
According to coach Declan Keilty, the plan was not to allow Leongatha’s players any space to get their game going, whether it was tight-checking man-on-man, tackling, tagging, tracking front, back and at the stoppages, it was noticeable the Parrots couldn’t get clear.
And while Moe’s forwards took their chances in front of goal, Leongatha couldn’t hit the side of a barn, scoring 1.12 to half time as against a hard-working 6.3 from Moe.
It didn’t hurt that they’d added former Western Bulldogs’ leading goal-kicker Billy Gowers to the team overnight, recruited from Old Xavs in the VAFA after playing two seasons with the Southport Sharks in the VFL.
Where Leongatha’s Jenson Garnham missed his first-up shot on goal, after being drilled with a pass straight out of the centre by the Parrot’s on-ball machine Tom Marriott in the initial five seconds of the match, Gowers did not make the same mistake down the other end.
One of Moe’s better players on the day, Jacob Wood, scooped up the loose ball at half forward and drove it towards Gowers one-out with Steve Forrester, and judging the ball better over the back, ran into an open goal, the first of the day, his first for his new club and at the same time, providing a huge boost to the visiting Lions’ chances.
He got the first goal of the second quarter too, with a classy long shot from the boundary, another later in the quarter and two more afterwards and Moe was well on the way to ending Leongatha’s record winning streak of 34 games.
Not that Leongatha played badly in general play.
In his 150th game, big Ben Willis was having an impact, against good opposition in the ruck including Ben Morrow and new Moe beanpole Chris Prowse, not only getting his share of the taps but also tackling and following up on the lose ball in an inspirational effort. And while Moe had close checks on two of Leongatha’s key onballers, Tom Marriott and Aaron Heppell, who were given no space in which to work, Cam Olden, Kim Drew, Jack Hume, Jesse Burns and Luke Bowman were picking up the slack with Guy Dickson, Sean Westaway and Cade Maskell leading a stout defence.
There wasn’t a lot wrong with how Leongatha were playing the game, contesting well for the ball, tackling and taking it up to the challengers, but they were constantly under commendable pressure from Moe, they lacked the movement and run you’ll usually see and were noticeably quiet on the field.
And, by half time, they had 13 scoring shots to Moe’s nine so it was a fair contest.
But they lost it in front of goal, hence the quiet on the field and the lack of excitement from the Parrots' fans, their numbers swelled by the annual past-players' day which included the likes of old Bulldog team mates and Leongatha champs Brian Royal and Steve Wallis among other greats of the game locally.
Closing the gap to 16 points by the last change, the Parrots were hopeful of keeping their streak going but Moe was more than good enough in the run to the line.
At the last huddle, the Moe coach encouraged his players to keep doing the things that had got them there, to keep taking the game on, to keep scoring and they did that, counter-attacking out of Leongatha’s half as the Parrots pressed up, throwing the likes of Dickson and Maskell forward, and with Marriott, Olden and Heppell among those trying to make things happen.
Keilty himself turned the Parrots out several times with towering marks at half back, combining with Jordan Ceppi on occasion, who had earlier hobbled off the ground in the hands of the Moe trainers, to release ball forward.
It was Moe’s Grady Cocksedge who got the first goal of the last quarter, where Leongatha had been the first to go into attack. It started the Moe-end of the grandstand rocking and the visitors were on their way to a famous victory at Parrot Park.
Marriott showed Leongatha the way home with a late goal but Gowers and Ben Daniher delivered the coup de grace, the final one coming just as the siren sounded to end the streak.
“That was a great win today but we’ve got to keep improving. Don’t think they won’t come back at us even harder later in the year and we want to be ready for that,” a measured Keilty told his players in a packed Lions’ rooms after the game.
In fact, the return match will be at Moe on Saturday, August 12 just three weeks out from the finals where it’s almost certain that Moe, Traralgon, Leongatha and Wonthaggi will play leading roles.
Was it “the loss Leongatha had to have” to sharpen their approach to the 2023 season or was it a true indication of how tight the race is going to be for the ultimate prize this year… good judges would say the latter.
