Leongatha’s 50-point finals win sets up meeting with Moe

THE reigning premiers in the Gippsland League, Leongatha, came away from the Qualifying Final at Moe on Saturday as the team most likely to challenge the runaway favourites in the competition this year, for the ultimate prize, Moe.

They did so with a convincing 50-point victory over near neighbours Wonthaggi Power but it wasn’t until the second half that they were able to get proper reward for effort on the scoreboard and shake off their committed and persistent neighbours.

In fact, there was only six points separating the teams in the shadows of half time, after a dour, low-scoring couple of quarters, until an ever-alert Nick Argento got boot to ball in a chaotic Parrots’ goal square just before the siren.

It allowed them to go to the long break with a useful, if inaccurate lead of 4.10 to Wonthaggi’s 3.4 which they soon added to in decisive fashion after the restart.

Dyson Heppell on the move to a tap from Wonthaggi’s Brodie Mabilia, won the first centre clearance, finding the league’s top goal-kicker Jenson Garnham on the lead. Only a point to Fraser Phillips resulted but in an equally promising move, Beau Grabham-Andrews combined with a busy Garnham to get the ball to Argento who made no mistake on the run.

Dumped after his kick, in a seemingly innocuous incident, Argento was awarded another kick and happily obliged with his second goal in a minute, his third on either side of the main break.

A great tackle by Leongatha’s Zavier Lamers in the next passage of play, tying up Wonthaggi’s Tom Glenn, who seemed intent on clearing the scoring zone, kept the ball alive for Leongatha and it soon found its way into the safe hands of Jack Hume who was having his best game for the Parrots after an interrupted season.

His goal, one of four on the day, got Leongatha out to a five-goal lead in a flash and it was noticeable that the sting went out of the contest from that moment onwards.

Wonthaggi’s Cooper McInnes marked on the lead and kicked a nice long goal against the run of play, but when Leongatha followed up with goals to Garnham, Justin Pellicano and finally Fraser Phillips, they had established a winning break of more than 40 points.

A late goal in the third quarter by Kyle Reid, switching from defence to attack throughout the day as required, after taking a good mark, falling backwards, added some respectability on the scoreboard but the Parrots held a 38-point lead at the last change and looked the winners.

They had a couple of notable factors in their favour on the day.

Dominating the rucking duels and the stats sheet was the Parrots’ Jack Sheridan who had 22 hit-outs in the first quarter, and followed up with 19, 16 and 13 in the next three quarters to finish with a whopping 70 taps to advantage on the day, to constantly give Leongatha first use.

And their midfielders, including Kim Drew, Dyson Heppell, Tom Marriott, Luke Bowman and co, happily complied, gradually getting on top of Wonthaggi after a good start by their midfield group in the first quarter.

While the likes of Jasper Shone, Brodie Mabilia, Shannon Bray and Jakeb Thomas took turns in the ruck during the game, it was noticeable they missed their specialist ruckman Daniel Bourke, still recovering from a broken pelvis.

Where the Parrots benefitted from the services of Dyson Heppell, after he came up well from a big night in the AFL Legends Game the previous Thursday night, Wonthaggi was without its spiritual leader and former coach Jarryd Blair, suffering from a recent MCL injury to his knee.

It was also noticeable that the Parrots had more avenues to goal, though the likes of Garnham, Hume, Argento, Lamers, Pellicano, Aaron Heppell and Tallin Brill, notwithstanding the strengths of the Power backline featuring Isaac Chugg, Jakeb Thomas, Kyle Reid, Nathan Muratore and others.

Whereas Cooper McInnes, with Lachie Ferguson in support looked the two most likely scorers for Wonthaggi.

After Power dominated the early part of the opening quarter, kicking the first two goals of the match through Ferguson and Jai Williams, Leongatha had evened it up by half way through the quarter, and despite being inaccurate, started to exert control the further the second quarter went.

They booted nine goals to three after half time to go on and win the game in convincing style, earning a berth in the Second Semi-final against Moe at Morwell next Saturday, September 5.

Wonthaggi lives to fight another day, in the First Semi-final at Leongatha on Sunday, September 6.

Speaking after the game, Leongatha coach Trent McMicking said the Parrots got a good contribution from the whole 22 during the match; defenders, midfielders and forward. He said the tackling pressure was good throughout the day as was the forward pressure from the likes of Lamers, Brill, Heppell, Argento and others. He singled out Jack Sheridan for his efforts in the ruck and noted the progress being made by Jack Hume after an interrupted season.

So, the Parrots are building at the right time of the year, but they’ll need to be at their very best next week against a highly-talented, potentially high-scoring Moe side if they are to put down a marker ahead of a likely return bout, win or lose, in the grand final in little more than three weeks’ time.

Final Scores: Leongatha 13.15.93 def Wonthaggi 6.7.43.