IT WAS all about Benny Willis’ 200th senior game for Leongatha on Saturday against Drouin at Morwell.
The gentle giant ran on to the ground through a guard of honour and a congratulatory banner to rapturous applause but the ladder leaders appeared caught up in the moment initially, fumbling the ball, failing to hit targets or stick tackles and it was the lowly Drouin side which drew first blood.
Ben Braiser, to Willis’ opposition in the ruck, Denver Lund and Aden Quirk got the ball forward to where Tomas Unferdorben and Ewan Croucher outworked the Parrots’ defenders to score the first goal.
Not long after that Ty Hall popped one through for the quick reply and there was an arm-wrestle for a time until Hall and Justin Pellicano combined for the go-ahead goal.
Typical of an opening quarter, there was a period of sounding out the opposition, and the ball went end to end, with Leongatha manufacturing most of the shots on goal and starting to get their passing and running going.
Down back, Tim Sauvarin was making a welcome return, combining with the likes of Klayton McGrath, Will Littlejohn, Ben Harding and Sam Forrester, and around the flanks, Jack Hume, Ty Hall, and Ned Hanily were busy.
Patrick Ireland was leading up well but key Drouin defender Riley Wierzbicki was regularly in the way and it was sometime before the next Leongatha goal came up, Hall to Ireland and a50 metre penalty for an easy one from the square.
It had been a lacklustre, low-scoring opening by both sides in the windy conditions and it didn’t get a lot better in the second, once again with Drouin getting the opening goal by outworking the Parrots’ defenders, Obernhumer finishing it off with a snap.
Moments later, the man of the hour Ben Willis tapped it to Aaron Heppell on the move and an opportunist Ty Hall sharked a defensive error by Drouin to get the Parrots’ fourth.
The Parrots rattled on another five after that to have a firm 41-point grip on the game by half time as all players started to chime in and Drouin fell away; Zavier Lamers with the next, Ireland trapping the ball near goal for another and Aaron Heppell the man in front to take advantage of a misdirected kick by the big Drouin ruckman.
Forrester to a running Beau Grabham-Andrews for the next was like a training drill and after Unferdorben pulled one back from a set shot, the Parrots rounded out a productive term with a late one to Ireland from 50 metres. Drouin’s Croucher might have got one after the siren but his straight kick fell short.
At the start of the third quarter, Leongatha went coast to coast for the opening goal to Jack Hume and after a one-two with teammates, Aaron Heppell popped through the next. The Parrot tackling was good when they didn’t have the ball, producing plenty of turnovers, and with Jacob Warne taking a turn in the ruck, the travelling crowd was looking for a goal from Ben Willis resting up forward.
But it was to be sometime before they got their wish, Aaron Heppell rolling through the next from close range. Ireland had another shot late from 50 metres but pulled the kick for a point.
The last quarter, though, was a Ben Willis benefit with the big fellow getting five of the Parrots’ eight after an initial strike by Lund after grabbing the ball out of the ruck.
Willis was lurking near goal but it was sometime before he finally got his chance, as Drouin put up some stout defence initially.
Ultimately it was a well-worked attack through Heppell, Hall, Forrester, Brill, Sauvarin, Hume, Warne and Lamers that gave the crowd what it wanted, a pass to Willis one-out near goal for the first of his five for the day.
He crushed the next mark that came his way for a second as the players got around him again. Lamers chipped in for the next, but it was all about Willis. Forrester found him on the lead for his third from the angle, Ireland snapped the next, and even the umpires got into the spirit of the occasion by awarding a downfield free to Willis, 20 metres out for his fourth.
Justin Pellicano passed it over the top for Patrick Ireland’s fifth of the day and fittingly, it was left to Willis to deliver the coup de grâce, his fifth and Leongatha’s 20th and final goal for the day in a 100-point win.
Leongatha were into attack as the final siren rang with Willis returning to rucking duties in the last meaningful play of the day.
Final scores: Leongatha 20.8.128 def Drouin 4.4.28.
