Liam Durkin
YA still gonna have to beat Leongatha to win this premiership.
The Parrots went into the halfway mark of the Gippsland League season on top of the ladder, after handing Drouin a nice-old pasting.
Leongatha was not in a hospitable mood, and dismissed the Hawks by 99 points at home, 23.10 (148) to 7.7 (49).
While Drouin has shown some promising signs this season, and won plenty of admirers for their attacking flair, the winless Hawks perhaps showed just how easy they are to score against.
Big margins were the order of the day for the Hawks. Drouin local Ryan Maric lost by 122 points on debut for the West Coast Eagles against Adelaide on the same day.
If it is any consolation for Maric, another Gippslander suffered a worse loss on AFL debut – Maffra’s John Butcher lost his first AFL game by 165 points playing for Port Adelaide against Hawthorn in 2011.
At that time, it was said VFL side Port Melbourne would have beaten Port Adelaide.
Leongatha found plenty of goals from Tallin Brill, Jenson Garnham and Lachie Wright, the trio kicking 16 between them.
Tom Marriott was best afield (could he be on track to win another league best-and-fairest?) followed by Brill, Aaron Heppell, Garnham, Jack Hume, and the Benjamin Button of the Gippsland League, Cade Maskell.
Tim Hancock, Jarrod Marshall, Tom Evans, Ryan Taylor, Bailey Stephens and Kye Quirk battled hard for Drouin.
BAIRNSDALE celebrated a big day for the club.
The Redlegs not only defeated Warragul 19.9 (123) to 12.10 (82), but also raised more than $100,000 for the Fight MND campaign.
In true country footy style, a DIY Big Freeze slide was set-up at Bairnsdale City Oval, and saw a number of local celebrities take the plunge.
Among them was Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, as well as Stratford singer-songwriter Mick Harrington of The Voice notoriety.
In keeping with the good spirit of the day, injured Warragul coach Jed Lamb also went down the slide.
Bairnsdale’s effort was one of the biggest Fight MND fundraisers in the state.
The game itself kept spectators on edge, as just two points separated combatants at three quarter time.
With the Gulls struggling in recent weeks, players could sense a rare victory. The home side however made sure of the result, slamming on eight goals to one in the last term.
Amazingly, three players kicked five goals for the Redlegs: Tom Hudson, Brayden McCarrey and Tyran Rees.
Even more amazing was the fact Bairnsdale kicked 15 straight at the scoreboard end (thank you Mr Carter).
McCarrey and Rees joined Lachlan Byrne-Jones, Nathan Dennison, Ethan East and Link McKenna in the best.
Goals also came from a familiar boot for Bairnsdale, although the player concerned found himself in an unfamiliar grade.
Senior vice-captain and Sale premiership player John Gooch kicked 10 goals in the reserves, presumably to find some touch after being held to just two disposals by Morwell’s Campbell Blewett the week before.
It was Gooch’s first reserves game since his days at Sale in 2014.
While it is highly unusual to send a senior leader back to the early game at country level, the decision may be justified given the fact three Bairnsdale players ended up kicking five goals.
Ironically, Bairnsdale playing-coach Logan Austin might have taken a leaf out of his old AFL club Port Adelaide’s book in making the decision. The Power left skipper Tom Jonas out of the side last month, and he hasn’t been recalled since.
Richmond premiership captain, Bruce Monteath famously sat most of the 1980 Grand Final on the bench after struggling to get a game at times during the season.
For Warragul, Yarram recruit Corbin Sutherland played his best game in the major league, kicking five goals. Others to play well were Brad Hefford, Tom Kelly, Lane Ward, Sean Masterson, Lachlan Smith and Cooper Alger.
Kelly was an interesting inclusion; the former Gull with one of the best left foot kicks in the game, was available to play due to his current club on the Mornington Peninsula having a break.
Warragul goes into the halfway mark of the season two games off the bottom from local rival Drouin.
It is expected the Gulls will use the second half of the year to avoid the wooden spoon, with one eye turned to next year.
Warragul has been beset with concatenation of evil this year, with a mounting injury toll and issues with their player points system compounding things further.
The player points issue, where conjecture has been raised over the amount allocated to certain Warragul players, has meant they have been unable to select their best team at times.
The issue may have come to a head last week, as it is understood a player left the club after being told he couldn’t be picked in the seniors due to the points cap.