THERE’S been angst at the selection table on Thursday night for both Leongatha and Wonthaggi ahead of their blockbuster grand final at Morwell on Saturday.
For the Parrots, they’ve erred on the side of caution and decided not to pick three-time premiership winger, and someone who has stepped up for a midfield role at times this season as well, Cameron Stone, after putting him through a grueling fitness test at the club’s last training run before the big one.
Stone came through the exhaustive test with flying colours, but it’s only been 19 days since he limped off the ground against Moe with what appeared to be a minor tear.
For a club game, he’d probably have been given another week to get it right, but he’ll be a significant loss on grand final day all the same.
With the club’s Development Team in the reserves’ grand final, aiming to make history for the Parrots as the only team to go back-to-back, Stone will get a chance to run out on the big day, and will play a role in the midfield for the twos against Sale, who could not have been more impressive in dispatching Maffra last week by better than eight goals.
Into the Parrots’ senior team comes Luke Bowman, after the obligatory week off for a head knock, while in good news for the Parrots’ Jack Hume has had his offer of a three-match ban overturned.
Leongatha appealed the report and offer of suspension at the tribunal on Wednesday night and when the tribunal reviewed the video closely, it appeared to back up the grounds for Leongatha’s appeal.
The charge was dropped, the penalty wiped, and Hume is free to play.
So in the end, there was only one change, Bowman in for tall young defender Wil Dawson who has been available for just three senior games for the Parrots this year, on either side of Gippsland Power duties, twice early in the season and when brought in last week specifically to match-up against super-tall Moe forward Nick Prowse in the preliminary final at Sale, where he played his role for the team.
Both Hume and Bowman are important inclusions for the Parrots, not only for their ability to rotate through the centre at times, but also for Hume’s goal-kicking ability and Bowman’s versatility.
The Power has had an equally tough time at the selection table, ultimately making just one change, Jordan Staley in for Jaxon Williams, who has played an unbroken string of 10 games for the Power in defence after coming in in Round 10, in mid-June, and doing everything right for his coach Jarryd Blair.
Staley offers versatility both in defence and up forward, and can also pinch-hit in the ruck as the need arises. Williams has become an integral part of the Power’s steely defence in the second half of the year, and if there is to be a late change, he would be the first to be called on.
So that’s it. A very familiar look to the Leongatha and Wonthaggi sides who’ll do battle on Saturday. The best that both clubs have available, with the exception of Kyle Reid and Guy Dickson both unavailable, and Jaxon Williams and Cameron Stone desperately unlucky.
Both Leongatha and Wonthaggi had relatively light training runs on Thursday night, featuring ball work, kicking for goal and very little running.
They’ll get plenty of time for that on a fast track at Morwell where there have been reports of little rain, certainly nothing like the coastal areas of South Gippsland and Bass Coast has received midweek, and the surface in superb order.
All is in readiness for a local derby to end all derbies, the first time the clubs have met in a Gippsland league grand final since Leongatha won by nine points against a fast-finishing Wonthaggi team in 2001.
The clubs have in fact met on four occasions in grand finals, with three wins to Leongatha and one to Wonthaggi in 1962. It will be only the second meeting between the teams in a Gippsland grand final, Wonthaggi’s fourth appearance overall, including 2001, 2002 and 2014
The four grand final meetings between Leongatha and Wonthaggi include:
- 1931, Leongatha 14.8.92 defeated Wonthaggi Town: 5.10.40 (South Gippsland League).
- 1961 Leongatha 10.12.72 defeated Wonthaggi 6.10.46 (South Gippsland League).
- 1962, Wonthaggi 9.10.64 defeated Leongatha 5.15.45 (South Gippsland League).
- 2001, Leongatha 14.8.92 defeated Wonthaggi 12.11.83 (Gippsland Latrobe FL).
In Wonthaggi’s other grand final appearances; against Maffra in 2001 they went down 13.20 to Wonthaggi’s 13.5 and in 2014, Morwell 8.7.55 defeated Wonthaggi 5.7.37.
If Leongatha climbs the mountain again on Saturday, it will be their 12th Gippsland premiership in 44 years, since returning to the main central Gippsland competition in 1969, a pretty good hit-rate of 27.3%.
Who wins? Predictions seem odious where two such evenly matched teams are concerned, and more than in most grand finales, it comes down to the best team on the day, the side that gets the breaks and makes the most of them.
See selected teams on PlayHQ at: https://www.playhq.com/afl/org/gippsland-league/gippsland-league-2023/seniors/game-centre/7934a105
