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Nearly perfect Parrots shut down Wonthaggi Power

THE Leongatha Parrots have possibly surprised themselves and certainly shocked their opposition, Wonthaggi, in a top-of-the-table clash at Leongatha on Saturday by kicking seven goals straight to nil in the first quarter to completely ice the game...

by Michael Giles

Published July 02, 2022

Nearly perfect Parrots shut down Wonthaggi Power — A mud-spattered Cam Stone gives the thumbs up to the supporters after a strong showing by Leongatha against close-town rivals Wonthaggi at Leongatha in Saturday's Gippsland League rivalry round.

With the mercury dipping below 10 degrees at the Leongatha footy on Saturday, a place in front of the raging fire was at a premium for supporters.

Thereafter, Leongatha’s stunning accuracy on goal continued, finishing with effectively 15 goals straight for the day with the Parrots’ only two points coming from “rushed behinds” scored by their opposition.

The haul included three seemingly impossible shots by Aaron Hillberg, on his left from the wrong pocket, Ned Hanily from a tough angle and Jack Hume too from a difficult position; the 10th, 11th and 12th goals for the Parrots in the space of 10 minutes midway through the third quarter.

The final result was a 56-point victory over their close-town rivals as the Power evened up the contest in the remaining three quarters, but the damage had been done early.

In the first quarter, the Power players could barely get their hands on the ball as Leongatha played in a 30-minute purple patch out of the centre and off half back as the occasion arose, to boot seven unanswered goals.

And it was one of the Parrots’ class of 2019 young players who got the scoring started as Will Littlejohn came off his wing with pace and slotted the opening goal.

Goals to Aaron Hillberg and three to Aaron Heppell followed with the likes of Luke Bowman, Tom Marriott and Ben Willis standouts in the centre, but with plenty of pace, support and skilled kicking to position coming down the flanks.

Wonthaggi Power came out after the first break and put on 2.2 in short order, but Leongatha soon re-established its ascendancy and held sway for the rest of the day.

An injured Jordan Staley was a big loss to the Power after half time, but they battled on gamely, getting better the further the match went, without actually closing the gap.

But the huge crowd in attendance, largely stayed right through to the end, many of them choosing a spot in front of the big open fire between the bar and the grandstand, to enjoy the spectacle with players from both teams having a crack right through to the final siren.

Harry Dawson pulled one back for the Power at the start of the last quarter and they might have had another soon after with an even contest in the centre, 13-10 in Leongatha’s favour for the last quarter. But it was finally Andrew Murray who cut the lead further.

Sean Westaway, Luther Juric, Jake van der Pligt, Travis Nash, Aaron Turton and others had served the Parrots well in defence throughout and they again rebounded the ball to where Cam Olden marked strongly and returned fire.

He had another soon after to restore the lead, after a strong mark between Power players and there were to be no last-quarter heroics from the Power.

Speaking after the game, best player on the ground, Aaron Heppell, said it had certainly been a focus of the team to start well in the big match at home, not allowing the visitors into the contest but no one expected exactly what happened.

“Obviously, we weren’t expecting that kind of stuff but it just worked for us,” Heppell told the radio broadcaster TRFM in an interview after the game.

“The connection between the mids and forwards was fantastic, and the forwards kicked the goals which enabled us to make a great start and that was the difference in the day from that first quarter,” he said.

Asked about the even spread of the goals, Heppell acknowledged that while the team didn’t have a power forward, the midfielders and forwards were all given responsibility to kick goals and fortunately it worked out on the day.

He also praised the team’s younger crop coming through for their contribution this season.

“Absolutely, that’s probably the most exciting thing about our team right now is we have the strength of those boys who won the Under 18 flag back in 2019 coming through. We’ve managed to retain a lot of those players which is great.

“You look at our team now and there’s probably only one or two players that didn’t grow up in the Leongatha area or the surrounding areas so it’s fantastic to see so many young guys sticking around the club and having all these local players coming through and playing really good footy.”

In the stats for the day; Aaron Heppell had 21 possessions (16 kicks, 5 handballs), Tom Marriott 20 (mostly in the first three quarters), Kim Drew 20, Ned Hanily 16, Travis Nash 14 and a good spread of other ball-getters.

Jarryd Blair led the way for the Power with 20, Ryan Sparkes 18, Toma Huther 13 plus 29 hit-outs, Aiden Lindsay 12, Mitch Hayes 11 and Jack Blair 11.

Wonthaggi got 32 free kicks and Leongatha 21, there were 209 marks (116 Leongatha, 93 Wonthaggi) and 21 contested marks to Leongatha against 15 for Wonthaggi.

Final scores Leongatha 15.2.92 to Wonthaggi 5.6.36.