Wonthaggi powers through: How they won it against Leongatha

WONTHAGGI Power are through to only their second Gippsland League grand final in history after defeating arch-rivals Leongatha by 22 points at Morwell on Saturday, September 9.

And, as coach Jarryd Blair said after the game, it was all the sweeter after they withstood fightbacks by Leongatha in the third quarter, when the Parrots edged ahead by a point, and when they closed the gap again to within a straight kick early in the last quarter.

But it was on the back, again, of the best defence in the competition, even without intercept star Kyle Reid, that they set up their victory with the likes of Tim Knowles, Jack Blair, Josh Schulz, Fergus O’Connor, Josh Bates and Shannon Bray all playing their roles to perfection, and also with a touch of class up forward, from Isaac Chugg and Jack Hutchinson, back to his best after injury, to put the icing on top of a win for the ages.

“We got challenged a number of times, but each time we thought no, we’ve got more to give, and that’s what makes it all the sweeter,” said Blair.

“It’s at this time of year that you know you’re coming up against quality opposition, but it just shows you that what we are doing really stacks up. We stuck to the task and got on top, so well done.”

Blair singled out a couple of players, Chugg, Hutchinson and Mabilia among them, but he stressed that the efforts of the whole 22 were what was needed on the day to secure the victory.

Others among them who come to mind include Toma Huther, especially his work around the ground, Noah Anderson constantly presenting himself up forward, Ryan Sparkes, Troy Harley, and Aiden Lindsay to name a few of them.

It was then all about looking forward for coach Blair, the recovery, the advantage of the extra week “to lick our wounds”, which may include an injury to important forward Cooper McInnes, and the preparations including an insight into the weeks ahead which he said would include a good hitout next weekend.

The Parrots were gallant in defeat, continuing to fight back all day, on the back of the heroics of Leongatha’s defenders, including Cade Maskell, Jackson Harry, Sean Westaway, Travis Nash, Sam Forrester and others, Ben Willis with a typically big-heated effort in the ruck, Aaron Heppell, Aaron Hillberg and Luke Bowman but they didn’t appear to have any easy access to goal until Jenson Garnham gave them something extra in the last quarter.

At about the 22-minute mark, Leongatha finally got it clear of the Power’s forward line, after they’d peppered the scoring zone for a series of points and both Aaron Heppell and Garnham had shots but only one point resulted.

Jack Ginnane then won a free kick while contesting a kick-in by Josh Schulz and his kick was marked in a pack of players by Garnham who slotted the crucial goal to cut the lead to just one goal.

However, only seconds later, Chugg kicked long off the left boot to score a great goal, out of nothing, from almost 50 metres out, at the 24-minute mark.

The Parrots responded without scoring from their next forward entry, before Lindsay got it out to Sparkes who barrelled it long towards Hutchinson. He won a one-on-one with Jackson Harry out on the flank, tapped it forward, picked up, touched it down on the run and into an open goal for the sealer.

Wonthaggi rolled Troy Harley and Ryan Sparkes back in defence late and there were to be no Leongatha heroics in the final minutes.

Willis still strong, while others around him were wilting, kicked it forward but Knowles again took the saving mark and passed to Huther who had been a tower of strength all day.

Wonthaggi was still doing more than enough to make their hard-fought lead count as the minutes ticked down.

Huther to Sparkes to Noah Anderson with second left saw him take a nice mark beyond 50 and he went back and kicked the goal, literally right on the final siren to ensure Wonthaggi booked its place in the 2023 grand final.

The Power crowd went up as the ball sailed through for their 17th straight victory, on the road to the grand final at Morwell on Saturday, September 23.

Final scores: Wonthaggi 9.10.64 defeated Leongatha 6.6.42.