THE Leongatha Parrots were simply too good for Traralgon in Saturday’s Gippsland League Grand Final, seriously too good.
You sensed it from the way they attacked the ball and swarmed the opposition from the outset.
You’d expect us to say that after a 95-point demolition of the second-best team in the competition, the third highest winning margin in Gippsland League history.
It was something akin to the Traralgon teams of the 1980s and 1990s when they won eight premierships in 14 years, between 1987 and 2000, around the same time as they were running a team in the VFL.
Everyone said Traralgon was too good then. Now it’s Leongatha’s turn.
It all started with the ferocious heat the Parrots brought to the contest, led by Dyson Heppell, who brought all of his AFL experience to bear, laying upwards of half-a-dozen tackles in the opening minutes, and using the close-checking by the likes of Traralgon’s Mitchell Mustoe to power his attack on the ball.
And fellow onballers, no slouches in their own right, brother Aaron Heppell, and Tom Marriott and Luke Bowman back to their best, Kim Drew and others were only too happy to follow his lead.
They completely shut down the time and space available to their opponents to a degree not seen in this league, possibly ever, with the result that they couldn’t link up their hot possessions and didn’t score a goal until halfway through the second quarter, by which time Leongatha had surged to a 50-point lead.
The game was over well before half time.
While denying Traralgon any access, and unable to get their much-vaunted ‘run and carry’ game going, the Parrots got plenty of outside support when they broke the ball free to the likes of Jack Hume, in charge in the air and on the ground on his wing, Ben Harding the league medallist on the other wing, Tim Sauvarin and Sam Forrester coming off half back or deeper when required, Jay Walker, Tallin Brill, Nick Argento… they all arrived with the same intent.
All that was needed, and it was no certainty with Traralgon’s Tye Hourigan already stamping his authority on the defence, was for Leongatha’s forwards to come to the party.
The Parrots were switched on and two minutes in, Aaron Heppell slotted their first.
A period of sorting out followed, but you could tell that both key forwards, Jenson Garnham and Patrick Ireland, were up and about and it wasn’t long before they inserted themselves into the game; Garnham taking a pack mark before scoring the first of his match-winning seven for the day and Patrick Ireland an exquisite shot from the boundary for a goal.
It was the type of play that told everyone the Parrot forwards were on for a big one.
Traralgon tried to respond but the wind wasn’t doing them any favours at the highway end, blowing Harvey Neocleous’ shot off course and making it tough for Mustoe to get his kick home.
Two more goals for Garnham and Nick Argento followed but with Hourigan blocking the approach with his superb marking and superior anticipation, the Parrots’ brainstrust went to ‘Plan B’ and sent Luke Bowman in to disrupt his access. It worked.
Traralgon missed his drive and Leongatha capped off a dominant first quarter with a goal to Kim Drew, six goals two against one solitary point to the Maroons at the first break.
It had been a stunning opening by the Parrots, more so because of the blustery conditions, with their ferocious attack on the ball driving their opponents backwards, even when they did have the ball, and their shots on goal unerringly accurate.
But Traralgon’s response with the wind in the second quarter was still to come.
It didn’t arrive.
In fact, after a point by Traralgon in the opening minutes, it was Leongatha which continued its dominance, Jack Hume marking strongly on the wing before linking up with Ireland and Garnham for the team’s seventh.
Predictably, Tye Hourigan went forward as a marking option with the breeze, only to be picked up by Tim Sauvarin, who was already having an excellent game in defence. In one of the plays of the day, Sauvarin brought Hourigan down in a game-defining tackle that saw him return to the backline as Leongatha’s scoring pressure mounted.
Aaron Heppell threw himself headlong into a contest to stop Traralgon releasing the ball forward and it was Hume that got the next goal, a snap from close range.
Dylan Loprese finally got Traralgon’s first after he judged the incoming ball better than his opponent Jackson Harry, but Dyson Heppell, Kim Drew and Tom Marriott were dominating the clearances and it was Leongatha which finished the quarter best with goals to Jenson Garnham, his fourth, and Aaron Heppell at the 27-minute mark.
The Parrots led by almost 10 goals at the half-time break and there was no coming back from there.
They extended that to a near-record margin of 95 points at the end, the third-biggest winning margin in a Gippsland League grand final.
Leongatha named Dyson Heppell, Jack Hume, Jenson Garnham, Kim Drew, Aaron Heppell and Tim Sauvarin among the best but there wasn’t a passenger in the Parrots’ line-up.
Dyson Heppell won the ‘Stan Aitken Medal’ and also the umpires’ best-on-ground award, but it was a humble Heppell who said afterwards that he was just happy to be part of it.
“I’ve always had a lot of love for this club, where I played all my junior footy, and the opportunity to roll out today with some blokes I played with in the Under 12s and Under 13s was a real thrill.
“Also, with my brother Aaron, who I’ve never played with before.
“But we said to each other during the week that we were really going to get after it today and I absolutely loved it.”
Among those who played in Saturday's premiership win were five who’ve tasted success with the Parrots on five occasions; including Ben Willis, Cade Maskell, San Forrester, Tom Marriott and Luke Bowmann, but new arrival at the club, Ben Harding, the Trood Award and Rodda Medal winner this year, revealed afterwards that he’d never won a premiership of any kind before lifting the cup at Morwell on the day.
“Fantastic, yeah, great,” said an overjoyed Harding who shared the moment with former teammates from the Old Melburnians.
In his acceptance speech after the game, Trent McMicking noted Leongatha’s respect for Traralgon and how after the disappointment of last year, they put the word ‘Redemption’ up on the noticeboard in the rooms at the start of the year and set about trying to get improvement out of every player and every contributor to success on matchday.
He also noted they’d added a couple of additional players as well, not mentioning Harding and Heppell by name, but clearly, they’ve been huge additions to the team’s output.
The return of a fully fit Tom Marriott, who played his part on the day, and Luke Bowman, also boosted the Parrots’ prospects.
The celebrations were off and running on the ground and in the rooms after the game, and there was a hot time in the old town on Saturday night with four premierships to celebrate; the seniors and reserves, and the Under 13s and B Grade netball as well.
We didn’t ask Dyson what happens next. We’ll just let him enjoy this one, his first at senior level, for now!
Parrots’ premiership by the numbers
Leongatha put up some seriously impressive stats in their runaway win over Traralgon on Saturday, and while there’s no tackle count or ‘pressure acts’ numbers in these figures by league statistician Paul Carter, you could imagine they’d be off the scale.
Here are some of Paul’s numbers, taken on the fly on Saturday, for Radio Station TRFM:
- Inside 50s: Leongatha 58 to Traralgon 33. By the quarter (L-T) (20-4) (12-12) (12-9) (14-8).
- Clearances: Leongatha 41 to Traralgon 28. By the quarter (L-T) (15-6) (12-7) (6-11) (8-4).
- Centre Clearances: Leongatha 12 to Traralgon 12.
- Free Kicks: Leongatha 18, Traralgon 20.
- Marks: Leongatha 78, Traralgon 40.
- Contested Marks: Leongatha 11, Traralgon 2.
- Marks Inside 50: Leongatha 11, Traralgon 7.
- Intercept Marks: Leongatha 19 to Traralgon 9.
- Scores From Set Shots: Leongatha 11.6 to Traralgon 4.3.
- Leongatha’s scores came 16-9 from turnovers and 3.2 from stoppages.
- Traralgon’s scores came 4.6 from turnovers and 0.0 from stoppages.
Leongatha players:
- Hit Outs: Ben Willis 42, Justin Pellicano 10, Patrick Ireland 4.
- Dyson Heppell: 35 disposals (22 kicks, 13 handballs), 8 marks, 10 clearances, 5 inside 50s, one goal.
- Ben Harding: 31 disposals (19 kicks, 12 handballs), 7 marks, 5 clearances, 3 inside 50s.
- Aaron Heppell: 20 disposals (11 kicks, 9 handballs), 6 marks, 2 clearances, 2 inside 50s, 3 goals.
- Tom Marriott: 19 disposals (10 kicks, 9 handballs), 1 mark, 7 clearances, 4 inside 50s.
- Cade Maskell: 19 disposals (18 kicks, 1 handball), 10 marks, 0 clearances, 1 inside 50
Paul Carter note: “Player stats are done on the fly and will probably differ from the official numbers when they come out in the next day or so.”
