Perfect 10 from Leongatha’s Jenson Garnham at Sale

HIGHLIGHT of Leongatha’s 118-point victory over Sale at Sale on Saturday was the 10-goal haul by Jenson Garnham who joins Moe’s Myles Poholke on top of the Gippsland League’s goalkicking list with 70 goals after 15 rounds.

He kicked three, two, three and two goals across the four quarters, had a hand in five or more others and might have bagged a few more in a committed display of forward craft throughout.

The Parrots kicked six goals in nine minutes at the start of the game and then did what they had to do for the remainder of the contest against a team that has lost all 15 games this year by an average margin of 130 points.

So, what has happened to Sale since they won four games in a competitive display last year which included running Moe to a narrow eight-point loss, 112 to 120, in the corresponding round on Saturday, August 2, 2025?

For a start, they lost players of the calibre of Shannen Lange, Jack Leslie and Jack Jonnstone in the off-season as part of a wholesale turnover of players which saw them field a team on Saturday against Leongatha that had 13 changes and only nine of the players who featured in that thriller against the Lions.

For the most part, the players they have added are homegrown talent, out of their Under 18s team of 2025 and reserves, and notwithstanding the final result, they performed creditably against the Parrots, the standouts being key defender Archer Gerrand and backman Kane Cutler, midfielders Cooper Whitehill and Kaden McCulloch and busy contributors Tom Glenn and Adam Wallace.

They got plenty of the ball but often failed to finish off their good work when they got into the forward 50.

Leongatha made five changes from the team that lost to Morwell the previous week, who incidentally went down to Moe, without the services of James Harmes, by 123 points this week. Go figure. They were Jackson Harry, Justin Pellicano, Tyler Richards, Aaron Heppell and Aydan Williams, with Harry, Heppell and Williams unavailable this week.

Leongatha was still without the likes of Cade Maskell, Sam Forrester and Luke Bowman and Dyson Heppell is yet to rejoin the Parrots, if that’s his intention, still with three games needed to qualify for the finals, and only three rounds remaining.

Leongatha’s onballers Tom Marriott, Kim Drew and Jack Sheridan set up the Parrots’ free-flowing victory with Tim Sauvarin making a welcome return to defence and immediately making a difference and Patrick Ireland contributing strongly both on the ball and up forward as required.

Others who contributed well for the Parrots were Fraser Phillips and Jay Walker who linked up well in transition, Nick Argento, Ty Hall, Ben Harding, Zavier Lamers and Ben Fort.

But it was more of a workmanlike display from the Parrots, after their initial burst, than anything special, apart from Garnham’s vigorous, straight-shooting performance up forward.

The next two weeks will go a long way to deciding Leongatha’s starting point ahead of the finals, playing Warragul and Wonthaggi in consecutive weeks at Leongatha before a last round meeting with Drouin at Drouin.

Sitting a game behind Warragul in third, but with a better percentage, Leongatha would go ahead of the Gulls with a win next Saturday, securing an important buffer ahead of the game against Wonthaggi, while Warragul faces Moe.

The final three rounds of the season are full of interest now, especially for Leongatha and Warragul supporters with Traralgon doing the Parrots a favour by taking down Warragul on Saturday.