Tigers roar after last-gasp win at Leongatha

LEONGATHA’S defence of their 2025 premiership title got a whole lot harder on Saturday when Morwell dynamo Aiden Quigley pumped the muddy ball long into the Tigers’ forward line, at the 30-minute mark of the last quarter of an epic battle at Parrot Park.

Where, only moments earlier, Leongatha’s full back Jackson Harry had come forward and defused another dangerous situation with ease, this time the ball sailed millimetres over his outstretched fingers and into the path of a running Cohen Campbell.

The rest, as they say, is history and Campbell raced into an open goal to put the seventh-placed Tigers five points up with, as it turned out, two and a half minutes to go in the match.

But it was Morwell which cleared the next centre quagmire before Hugh Dunbar took a crucial intercept mark and found busy half forward Burkley Macfarlane. He played some “tempo football” with teammate Tyler Hillier, ensuring the time ticked harmlessly away on the Tigers’ half forward line and wing… siren!

There was jubilation in the Morwell camp and despair for Leongatha, letting slip a crucial “four points” if they are to finish in the top three, and have another tilt at back-to-back premierships.

With four rounds left to play, the calculations are simple now.

Leongatha have to win all their games; against Sale, Warragul, Wonthaggi and Drouin, and rely on Moe beating Warragul in the penultimate round of the season.

That would see Moe, Wonthaggi and Leongatha (on percentage from the Gulls), finishing in the top three spots and earning the “double chance” which is seen as a huge advantage for those looking to further their post-season ambitions.

Moe still loom as the red-hot favourites but any one of Wonthaggi, Leongatha or Warragul could still beat the Lions if they have a bad day on grand final day, which can certainly happen, as we know.

Leongatha, of course, had their chances to ice the match in the closing stages of the last quarter but, to their credit, Morwell always had a couple of players goal side, every time the Parrots forced the ball forward.

Not long after Morwell’s big ruckman Isaac Abas had marked the ball and set up from close range to put his team in front, with five minutes to go, unsuccessfully as it turned out, Leongatha’s Patrick Ireland made a gallant attempt to mark an incoming kick from Ben Harding.

He looked to have done enough to control the slippery, heavy ball in the goal square but there was no whistle and the moment, which would almost certainly have won Leongatha the game, was lost.

Jenson Garnham led up strongly and Tallin Brill kicked to the hot spot in the closing minutes before Ireland took a flying shot that went wide.

At the other end, Jackson Harry cleared a promising Morwell attack and there was a rolling rugby scrum on the outer wing for what seemed minutes, with Leongatha leading by a point, before Morwell’s Maclan McInnes soccered it forward and ultimately into the hands of team captain Quigley.

It was a day tailormade for an upset.

Showers during the week and in the lead up to the senior game made the ground slow and muddy in places, and when those occasional showers continued during the match, it was always going to be a dour, low-scoring affair.

Leongatha was without five or more players who might have made the difference, including Cade Maskell, Sam Forrester, Jack Hume, Luke Bowman and Tim Sauvarin, with still no sign of Dyson Heppell after showing some interest in finishing the season back with the Parrots.

But they didn’t play well, often enough, constantly under pressure down back, failing to move the ball with their patented skills and lacking the fire power up forward on a day that suited a well-organised defence led by Max Linton and Zac Cheffers.

Among the exceptions were Kim Drew, Tom Marriott and Jack Sheridan more than holding their own on the ball, Will Littlejohn down back, Ty Hall constantly inserting himself into the play around the flanks and Ireland always a threat up forward.

It was an absorbing contest for all that and a committed Morwell, superbly led by Quigley, kept coming and when the opportunity presented itself late in the day, they took it with both hands.

Leongatha’s Rhett Hume played his first senior game for the Parrots and Jackson Harry his 200th club game.

Final scores: Leongatha 5.8.38 lost to Morwell 6.7.43.