WONTHAGGI Power put together their most complete performance for the year at Traralgon on Saturday, in a third versus fourth match-up that finished in a record 79-point win by the visitors.
The highlight of the day was the form of young Power forward Cooper McInnes who was on the end of some great passing and his own confident leading and marking to finish with seven goals.
But he had plenty of mates.
Ryan Sparkes was everywhere, racking up 29 possessions in an impressive display, Tom Murray was also dominant, especially after half time in a winning on-ball group that also featured Aiden Lindsay, Mitch Hayes and Toma Huther and they had a defence that was in complete control.
Jordan Staley had the job on the dangerous Brett Eddy at full back and held him to one goal, demonstrating his dominance midway through the second quarter when he ran clear of the defensive 50 to accept a pass from Huther before passing to Bodie Mabilia for a goal.
It was one of a number of times throughout the day when the Power completely controlled the passage of the ball, defence to attack, before lowering their eyes to hit a forward on the lead.
As well as McInnes, they had plenty of options.
Troy Harley was constantly on the move, in a creative, team-oriented game from him, while finishing with three goals, Mabilia was another target finishing with two and both Noah Anderson and Tom Davey were lively.
Other pleasing aspects of the Power’s play were their attack on the ball, their tackling, their kicking to position and their kicking for goal; finishing the first half with 7.0 to Traralgon’s 2.5 and going on to kick 16.10.106 to the Maroon’s 27 points.
It was both Wonthaggi’s biggest winning margin ever against Traralgon and the Maroons’ lowest score against Wonthaggi. McInnes’ seven goals was also a record by a Power player against Traralgon.
Traralgon weren’t hopeless before half time.
The first quarter was a good contest, and despite missing shots to half time, Traralgon had given a reasonable account of themselves with Tye Hourigan dominant in the air, the big ruckman Max Jacobsen competitive and onballer Luis D’Angelo one of those to shine out.
But the further the game went, the more they fell behind Wonthaggi, at the contest, getting numbers to the ball, providing options forward of the ball and in their willingness to put their body on the line.
And, in the end, Traralgon fell away to such an extent that it ended up being one of the most insipid performances seen from a senior Traralgon side.
They’re still fourth on the ladder, equal with Wonthaggi on six wins, but there was daylight between them on Saturday.
Aside from McInnes, who had a day out, Wonthaggi had winners all over the ground with every player contributing.
The defenders including Josh Schulz, Jordan Staley, Tim Knowles, Shannon Bray, Kyle Reid, Fergus O'Connor and Jack Blair blunted the Maroons attack early, with intercept marks, smothers, tackling, unrelenting pressure and confident transition; Reid, Knowles and Schulz were standouts.
And such was the contribution by all players that you didn’t notice the likes of Jarryd Blair and Isaac Chugg standing out from the crowd of Power players wanting to be a part of it.
It was a superb performance on a day when everything clicked, but built on the back of hard work at the contest, pressure, hard running and clever use of the ball.
Final scores: Wonthaggi 16.10.106 def Traralgon 3.9.27.
