A RECORD crowd turned out at Leongatha on Saturday for Second Semi-final day in the Gippsland League, with numbers boosted by fine weather and the fact that nine out of the 10 clubs were represented in netball and five in football.
In fact, the sporting highlights of the day were all at the netball where a huge crowd had assembled by the start of the A Grade match, between the undefeated Moe and second-placed Warragul.
Prior to that there had been two one-goal cliff-hangers with Traralgon just getting over Leongatha 34-33 in the Under 17s and Drouin nailing a place in the grand final with a 39-38 victory over Morwell in C Grade.
In the feature netball match of the day, it was Warragul which inflicted Moe’s first defeat in two years, led by their 200cm sharp shooter Emma Ryde, a former Victorian Fury representative, who was unbeatable all day in the circle.
The football? Not so much!
Traralgon set up a fairly comfortable win over Moe in the Under 16s with a four goal to two third quarter, Warragul took control of the Under 18s early in the third quarter against Leongatha and the Parrots did what they had to do to defeat Bairnsdale in the Reserves.
And such was the dominance by Leongatha in the Seniors, playing Moe for a place in the 2024 Grand Final, that there was little for the crowd to get excited about, beyond being impressed with the Parrots’ pressure and standard of play.
The Parrots had 30 scoring shots to the Lions’ 12 for the day, ultimately running out 58-point victors to underscore their favouritism for a fifth premiership in six years, not counting the COVID year, 2020, when Leongatha were minor premiers.
The Lions failed to even score a goal until five and a half minutes into the third quarter with the Parrots already leading by 51 points at that stage, due mainly to the pressure exerted all over the ground, but it wasn’t all Leongatha’s doing.
Several Moe players, including Harrison Pepper and Nick Prowse, had good chances to open their team’s account earlier but it wasn’t to be.
If the game wasn’t over at half time, with Leongatha leading by 39 points in a low-scoring affair, it was put beyond any doubt by Leongatha captain Tom Marriott in the first minute after the restart when he hit the pack at half forward, came out the other side and slotted a goal from 35 metres on the run.
Jay Walker, Ben Willis, Cade Maskell in his 150th senior game for the Parrots, and Travis Nash got the ball forward again immediately afterwards with Walker on the overlap and Cam Olden ultimately soccerring it through. Game over.
Ever alert on the Moe forward line, Harrison Pepper finally got the Lions’ goal tally ticking over with his first five minutes into the second half, the result of a jumper tug by Leongatha’s Mitch Bentvelzen, before getting a pass over the top from Jacob Balfour for his next, and Moe’s second in a minute.
But Leongatha went on to win the quarter, four goals to two, and continued the theme in the last to make it a 58-point win at full time.
Leongatha coach Trent McMicking was delighted with the level of commitment from his players.
“The pressure was off the charts, and I think we’ll find the inside 50s were right up there as well,” said McMicking afterwards.
“If you’re going to be picky, we’d like to have finished off our work a bit better, but very pleased, yes.”
Moe went into the game without their classy intercept defender Declan Keilty, who has also spent time forward this year.
The extent of the knee injury he sustained against Traralgon the previous week isn’t clear but there have been reports of a low-grade Meniscus tear that may allow him play in a few weeks’ time, should Moe progress beyond the preliminary final against a resurgent Maroons at Traralgon on Saturday, September 14.
With last Saturday’s victory, Leongatha progresses into the grand final at Morwell the week after.
For the Parrots, Luke Bowman made a real impact on his return to the senior side; Tom Marriott, Tallin Brill and Kim Drew applied plenty pressure and offered drive away from the stoppages, Tim Sauvarin was a key part of the defence with Sean Westaway returning to his best form back there and both Guy Dickson and Cade Maskell solid.
Jack Hume and Travis Nash were also prominent as were Jake van der Pligt, Jay Walker, Cam Olden, Will Littlejohn and Jarrod Stewart taking a turn in the ruck with Ben Willis. But there were no passengers in a performance which strangled the opposition from start to finish.
Final scores Leongatha 13.17.95 defeated Moe 5.7.37.
