Gippsland League split Round 13, Week 1 preview

Leongatha coach Paul Carbis has flagged “consistency in effort” as key to the Parrots chances against league leaders Maffra in the match of the season to date when first plays second in the first half of the split round 13.

After disposing of Morwell with ease at the weekend, Carbis admitted it was easy for in-form sides to become complacent against lower order opposition.

“We spoke about it before the game and the competition is so even that if you don’t start well and let the opposition get on you then they’re in it for the whole game,” he said.

“When you start getting in front it’s very easy for teams to start being selfish and play for themselves but we did the opposite and played some really selfless team footy.”

Luke Bowman “played his best game for the year” against Morwell, ruckman Dan Willis was again a standout and Cameron Stone “went to the next level” between the wing and half-forward on Saturday.

The win was Leongatha’s 10th for season 2018 and places them a game behind this weekend’s opponents in Maffra.

Instead of getting caught up in analysing the opposition Carbis said “we’ll keep trying to work on ourselves and our consistency”.

“With the way we’re playing, if we can do that then we’ll be competitive against Maffra,” he said.

A somewhat unsettled roster has had little impact on the Parrots’ performance week in, week out, which bodes well for the side ahead of the weekend, according to Carbis.

“The last month we’ve had three or four changes every week, and that could easily affect a team but it hasn’t for us, which is a good sign,” he said.

“We’ll have three or four changes again this week … we’ll have a look and see who’s available but we’re hoping for another consistent performance against Maffra who are really the yardstick of the competition.”

Latrobe Valley Express

Moe will be hellbent on returning to the winner’s list when they travel to take on Bairnsdale this weekend.

The Lions slipped up in round 12 and were outdone by Warragul by two goals after rising to upset an in-form Sale side by two points in a thriller the week prior.

Lucky for the Lions, they have a game’s breathing room in fourth spot on the Gippsland league ladder, ahead of Traralgon in fifth.

A win in round 13 will be key to Moe’s hopes of a post-season berth as they prepare to face Leongatha, Traralgon and Maffra in the run home.

For Bairnsdale, a finals run seems unlikely. They sit in seventh spot on the ladder with four wins for the season – two games off the pace of Warragul and Traralgon with Maffra, Sale and Leongatha all to come in the final five rounds of the season proper.

Latrobe Valley Express