Power blows Bairnsdale away in 93-point rout

WONTHAGGI smoked Bairnsdale by 93 points at Wonthaggi Recreation Reserve on Saturday in a Gippsland League blowout that erased any hangover from last week’s 40-point loss to Moe.

The Power slammed on 10 goals in the opening term and the Redlegs had no answers, with the forwards nailing everything from set shots inside 50 to bombs from beyond the arc.

Every long ball forward seemed to hit a Wonthaggi target on the chest and the Power were visibly enjoying themselves, with Daniel Bourke banging home multiple goals from beyond 50 within minutes of each other to lead 63-1 at quarter-time.

Bairnsdale arrived sitting ninth on the ladder with one win from four starts and it showed, the Redlegs unable to win a contest or break through the Power’s wall of pressure.

Wonthaggi clearly took the foot off the brake in the second term and added just two goals to two as the visitors woke up through a couple of soft majors.

The Power led 78-15 at the main break and looked completely comfortable.

Rain arrived at the start of the third quarter and Shannon Bray immediately produced a goal-of-the-season contender in a unique show of improvisation and skill, launching a flying soccer volley in midair from a boundary throw-in near the

Wonthaggi goals and sending it high and straight through the middle as if he had taken a set shot.

It was clean enough that it shocked even the players around him.

The Power hit their straps again and piled on six goals in the third as the lights came on, leading by 104 points at three-quarter-time.

Bairnsdale kicked three to one in the last as the Power emptied the bench, but the contest had been dead since the first quarter.

Bryce Joyce was best on ground after a dominant midfield display while Aiden Lindsay and Jaxon Foon led the forwards with four goals each, with Daniel Bourke chipping in with three and Jai Williams, Blake Cornelis and Kaj Patterson all booting two of their own.

Shannon Bray and Joyce rounded out the goalkickers with one apiece, while Jayden Burns, Nathan Muratore and Bourke joined the trio in the Power’s six best.

Cooper Harvey tried hard all day for the Redlegs alongside Cooper Vickery, Lachlan Byrne-Jones, Rex Hargreaves, Oscar Morrison and Max Neate.

The Power sit fourth on the ladder at 3-2 and head to Maffra next Saturday looking to make it back-to-back wins.