Power back on after Maffra shutdown

YOU’RE doing plenty of things right when you hold one of the benchmark teams of the past few decades, Maffra, to just nine points until three quarter time, on their own home ground.

That was the story of Wonthaggi’s record-breaking win over Maffra last Saturday, on the back of a winning defence, led by Shannon Bray, Jye Gilmour and Kyle Reid, and a team defence fronted by the coach himself, Jarryd Blair, at his contested possession best throughout the day.

The Power was also able to apply commendable forward pressure as well with the likes of Cooper McInnes, Jack Hutchinson, Harry Dawson and Jack Blair making it tough for Maffra to clear the scoring zone.

And they had a choice of lead-up forwards too including Jakeb Thomas, Jordan Staley and Troy Harley and Jack Hutchinson.

The only thing, and it was an issue noted by Blair at three-quarter time, was the number of goal-scoring chances that either hit the post or went astray, robbing the Power of an even bigger winning margin than the record 80-point result over Maffra by the end of the game.

“We’re creating a lot of chances and we want to be kicking more of them,” said Blair at the last change.

“No one means to miss them, so just as long as we keep creating them, the goals will come,” he said.

But missing gettable chances can result in momentum changes in tight games, against the best opposition, and you may see some goal-kicking scenarios practiced at training over the next few weeks.

There was, however, a lot to like about the way Wonthaggi went about it on Saturday, in glorious autumn sunshine at Maffra.

They put their stamp on the contest early in the first quarter with three unanswered goals to Cooper McInnes (2) and Harry Dawson after which both teams had their chances, in a defensive game to the end of the first term.

Danny Butcher was running hot for Maffra and should have opened their account when he received a nice pass from Ben Brunt. Good team defence by Reid, Bray and Knowles set a pattern for

Power, Bray also combining with Jack Blair but Daniel Bedggood also had a clear chance that came to nothing.

Wonthaggi went bang, bang through Jordan Staley and Tom Davey for quick goals soon after the restart and they looked set to put a real space between the teams on the scoreboard.

But Maffra’s onballers including Kieran Jones on Toma Huther in the ruck, Butcher on Sparkes, Ed Carr tracking Jarryd Blair and Aiden Lindsay and Mitch Hayes among others running through the middle, were holding their own and Wonthaggi relied on a fair bit of drive out of the back half.

Brodie Mabilia took a nice intercept mark which ended in a point to Sparkes and Cooper McInnes took a hanger before kicking a point and it took a hook up between Jarryd Blair and McInnes to bring up the Power’s next, a great snap after a hard-ball-get by Blair resulting in the goal of the day.

Ryan Sparkes just about had his head pulled off in a crude tackle that started a dust up midway through.

Wonthaggi was growing in confidence and Kyle Reid was playing higher up the ground to keep the ball rebounding deep into the attacking zone.

Lindsay and Hutchinson combined for no score and there were other chances until Harry Dawson booted long for another and the Power went to half time on 7.9 to Maffra’s two points.

They simply didn’t appear to be able to penetrate the super tight Wonthaggi defence, with pressure on the passes coming in but Maffra got the first centre break of the third quarter and within seconds had their opening goal through Alex Carr.

But that was it for the rest of the term and Wonthaggi locked down again and they really should have had eight more goals, rather than three, by the last break.

Jakeb Thomas and Jack Hutchinson both hit the post in the space of a minute, and Staley, Davey and McInnes all kicked points, wasting terrific work by the Blair brothers, Sparkes and others but finally Dawson broke through, Hutchinson got one after a good lead-up mark and Thomas kicked an easy one after a downfield free.

It was all Wonthaggi in a pleasing “team effort” and when urged to finish their work by Blair at three quarter time, they won the last quarter five goals to three to set up a record-setting 80 point win.

The result puts Wonthaggi back on track after a let-down week against Moe, and they now have a string of winnable games that could set up their season.

Final Scores: Wonthaggi 15.18.108 def Maffra 4.4.28.