Gippsland League Round 10 review

The journey to Drouin was no problem for Moe who have moved a game clear in fifth position on the Gippsland League ladder with a mammoth 93-point win over the Hawks in round 10, 21.13 (139) to 7.6 (46).

No less than 13 players hit the scoreboard for the Lions – a facet of the game coach James Blaser was rapt with.

“We had a really even spread of goal kickers and the most anyone kicked was two, and that’s what we’ve worked on is the versatility and flexibility of our structure and we can really put anyone forward and they can kick goals, which is really pleasing,” Blaser said.

Ahead of the clash, Blaser emphasised the importance of starting well and the Lions delivered with a six-goal-to-one opening term.

“When we’ve been to Drouin in the past we’ve had a real challenge, so I was really pleased with the start we had,” he said.

Tom Long and James De Virgilio were a couple of the better contributors for Moe but Blaser flagged the side’s “pressure and intensity” as key and said it was difficult to attribute the win to just a handful of players.

“It was just a really good team effort overall and with a win that easy … we didn’t really have a bad player,” he said.

Moe will make the trip to Sale in the headlining match of round 11 while Drouin will face ladder leaders Maffra.

Latrobe Valley Express

Sale have delivered league giants Maffra their first loss of the 2018 season with an emphatic win on the road on Saturday, 11.5 (71) to 3.16 (34).

Though rapt with the win, Magpies coach Shane Fyfe said the 37-point margin "wasn't reflective" of the contest.

"I'm really pleased. They're clearly number one in the competition and playing them at home ... we haven't won there since 2014, so I'm just happy that we had a plan and executed it pretty well," Fyfe said.

"We were able to hit the scoreboard better than them and they kicked a few behinds but it didn't feel like that with them."

The Eagles were restricted to an uncharacteristically low score, with just three goals from 20 scoring shots, in "windy and tricky" conditions.

"In the last [quarter] they kicked the first goal and had a couple of opportunities, but around the footy conditions were pretty tough and our midfielders played well," Fyfe said.

"But it was just a real hard contest and we had to be quite accountable against them, if you give them time and space they'll cut you apart, they're such a good side."

Fyfe praised the efforts Jayden Allison in the midfield who also pressed forward and finished with three goals while ruckman Jack Lipman and Adam Wallace were also among the best.

Latrobe Valley Express

Warragul rebounded from four losses on the trot to keep alive some hope for the season when it scored an important win at Morwell on Saturday.

Respective ladder positions would have labelled it a “should win” for Warragul. Reality suggested it was far from that. Morwell had won two of its previous four matches and been highly competitive in the other two against top five sides Moe and Traralgon, going down to Moe by only four points.

The Gulls responded with a four-quarter effort in a game which was nip and tuck until they got the better of the final term to win 9-16 to 6-12.

Rain that started to fall in the last quarter seemed to help open up the game that had been an arm wrestle until then. Warragul led 2-5 to 1-4 at quarter time as each side had periods when they looked likely to get a bit of a break and it was similar in the second term. At halftime both sides had four goals on the board with the Gulls ahead by two points.

Tyssen Morrow and Matthew Ross, both unavailable the previous week, proved valuable inclusions in four changes to the line-up including the late withdrawal of Nick Mulqueen with a shoulder injury and Dylan Proctor’s absence also through injury. Also coming into the side and making their presences felt were Sam Whibley to give support in the ruck and Northern Territory recruit Mike Coombes who missed a couple of games due to injury. Sam Fennell, promoted from the thirds for his first senior game, also caught the eye and added some important leg speed around the ground.

Warragul had chances to create some scoreboard space in the third term but didn’t cash in. It restricted Morwell to just three behinds for the quarter but was off target itself with 1-5. Still, given rain looming, it was a handy 10-point break to start the final term. The Gulls produced some of their best football for the day to add 4-3 and run away to score by 22 points.

The game wasn’t pretty for the most part and a tough, hard fought contest all day. The major plusses for Warragul, as well as the four premiership points, were its consistency over the four quarters and the fact that it had 22 contributors. Morrow got the nod as Warragul’s best player in a difficult selection given the strong games of many others. Vice-captain Sam Russell, recently returned after being injured early in the season, and James Davidson were leaders in defence, Nate Paredes was his usual self in winning “hard balls” in and around the contests, and Ash Di Ciero and Tom Kelly were also named in the best. Kelly has thrived on his move over the past couple of weeks to the centre line and forward as has Matt Rennie. The hard to get goals were kicked by Brayden Fowler, Paredes, and Morrow with two each, and Rennie, Ross and Nic Stevenson scored single goals.

A six-goal second term has helped Traralgon move a game clear of Moe on the Gippsland League senior ladder with a win over Bairnsdale in round 10, 19.12 (126) to 7.5 (47).

Traralgon playing-coach Mark Collison said the Maroons had emerged "a better side" after a "down patch" of three consecutive losses and a "frustrating" defeat to Maffra in round eight.

"We lost three in a row to sides not in the top five, which was frustrating because we thought we were playing well, but the positive is that we seemed to have fixed that and we're playing really well," Collison said.

"I thought against Maffra we played three really good quarters and lost it in the last, so to come out against Bairnsdale and put a full game together was really pleasing.

"We put a full game together and our team defence was really strong all game – we were committed to that – and we kept Bairnsdale to under 50 points, which was a real positive."

Collison said the emergence of Connor Little as a key fixture down back had been key for the Maroons and labelled his performance against Bairnsdale "exceptional".

North Gippsland league leading goal kicker Jesse Jackway kicked two goals in his second game for Traralgon and has "fitted in really well and looks like he belongs", while Jack Vucenovic stepped up and looks to be in fine form after a torrid injury run in 2017.

"We've got plenty of depth, plenty of players are stepping up I think we're playing some really good footy at the moment," Collison said.

Connor Ambler was key through the midfield and added two goals for the Maroons in the win over Bairnsdale, as did Jay Neagle, Cory Stockdale, Mitch Mustoe and Lee Stockdale.

Traralgon come up against defending premiers Leongatha in round 11, and after disposing of the Parrots in round two, Collison said the side was "feeling confident".

Latrobe Valley Express