Wonthaggi Power beaten by resurgent Gulls

LAST year’s grand finalists, Wonthaggi Power, had their colours lowered by a resurgent Warragul at Western Park on Saturday with the Gulls getting away with a hard-fought nine-point victory.

There was nothing between the sides, in a low-scoring affair with Wonthaggi leading 3.4 to 2.6 by four points at half time.

Wonthaggi Power got the first goal of the third quarter when Harry Dawson was dumped after taking a mark, and awarded a 50-metre penalty for his trouble.

But after that, the home side came on strong with goals to Bayley Paul and then Tom Stern with two to take a decisive 14 point lead.

Ryan Sparkes, coming back from the Collingwood VFL side, was in everything on the ball, and together with tackling machine Aiden Lindsay, was trying to ignite the Power. The two rucks, Toma Huther and Mitchell Smart were having a ding-dong battle but Warragul was up for the fight and went to the last change, with a big huddle of supporters gathered around, looking to take a key scalp in the opening round of the 2024 season.

Wonthaggi cut the margin to 8 points when Josh Bates won the first centre break and found Cooper McInnes, who snapped truly.

Warragul then locked down on their opponents for the next five minutes and finally produced a goal of their own when Stern took a contested mark in the goal square and made no mistake.

There was a rolling maul on the Warragul forward line for the next five minutes until Lindsay forced the ball forward to where Noah Anderson kicked a point.

New Power player Brayden Duve was adding plenty of forward pressure and Lindsay continued to stop his Gulls’ opponents in their tracks but it was Warragul which kicked the decisive goal when one of their onballers hit the Sherrin at speed, and kicked towards the goal square to where Isaac Wallace soccered the contested ball through for what amounted to the winning goal, the Gulls up by 19 points at the 20-minute mark.

Jack Blair raised hopes when he earned a free kick the hard way, played on and kicked a goal and there was only nine points in it when Anderson got the ball forward to McInnes for a goal at the 28-minute mark.

The Power were coming on strong at the end, but time ran out and Warragul maintained its nine-point margin for the best possible start to the new season.

Wonthaggi Power certainly had enough of the play to get closer, if not win it, but their kicking to position left a lot to be desired, especially when entering the forward 50.

Some of that was down to the Gulls’ pressure but Power forwards in good position to mark often had to fight for the ball on the ground, or chase back when passes went astray.

On the positive side, the Power switched the play well out of defence and there were all the signs that their much-vaunted backline of the past few years remains intact providing a good foundation for the year ahead.

Warragul has promised much in recent seasons and on the look of it, might be ready to take their place in the upper echelon of the league this year.

Other games

Reserves: In other games on the day, Wonthaggi Power demonstrated good depth in the senior ranks by starting well against Warragul with a three goal to one opening quarter and they never looked back.

Cade Brown was in everything up forward and around the flanks, Adam Pugh controlled the play through the centre, Ryan Cornell continued on from his good season last year in the ruck, Reeve Moresco continued his progress in the Power’s senior ranks working hard up forward, Wayne Luke was a mobile target and Blake Cornelis kicked three in a complete game by an on-baller.

The Wonthaggi defence did a great job on the day, limiting Warragul to just one goal for three quarters in a good sign for the season ahead.

Thirds: Unfortunately, the shortage of Under 18 players at Wonthaggi in the pre-season flowed over into the season proper with the Power unable to field a Thirds side at Warragul on the day.

They’re not the only club having trouble putting together Under 18 teams especially with the early starts and distances to be travelled in the Gippsland League.

Fourths: As expected, the Power Under 16s had a strong start to the season with a 12-goal win over Warragul and with a solid squad, they should enjoy a promising season.

The team’s 14 goals were shared around with both Jasper Shone and Jackson Glen capping off good overall performances with three goals each and Jaxon Brouwers having a day out with six.