AT LEAST it didn’t rain, well, not much anyway. But the gale-force south-westerly wind was relentless at Wonthaggi on Saturday, and in many ways shaped the contest between Wonthaggi Power and Leongatha.
It wasn’t a day for either teams’ lead-up forwards, with Cooper McInnes (2 goals) the best of them, and Leongatha’s Jesse Burns busy, also kicking two.
But with the ball dropping short, going long or wildly off course, the defenders had plenty of chances to neutralise or clear scoring chances. And even when Aaron Heppell’s errant kick presented a scoring opportunity to Aiden Lindsay, on a platter early in the third quarter, his purposeful shot towards the left-hand goal post stubbornly stayed left.
In the end, it was a low-scoring, inaccurate affair, won by Wonthaggi by 17 points, their first victory over Leongatha since April 2019.
But it was absorbing nonetheless for the big crowd which had packed in for the top-of-the-table clash between the neighbouring rivals.
Sam Forrester with a hard tag on the Power coach Jarryd Blair; Jackson Harry on McInnes; Jakeb Thomas back in this week and picking up Jack Ginnane; onballers for Leongatha Kim Drew, Tom Marriott and Luke Bowman well matched against Aiden Lindsay, Brodie Mabilia and co for the Power, Kyle Reid and Jordan Staley roaming across half back, Jack Blair and Tim Knowles cleaning up the scraps in defence and Cade Maskell reading the play superbly across half back for the Parrots; there was a lot to enjoy.
But in the final analysis, Wonthaggi Power was just better on the day; better around the packs, better at linking up from defence to attack, and better organised up forward especially after half time.
Here again, the wind helped.
The Power had the advantage of the breeze in the third quarter, and it was crucial that they wipe off Leongatha’s five-point lead and set up a defendable margin themselves before the last change.
They had most of the play to the swimming pool-end of the ground during that quarter but after Josh Bates hit a goal post swinging in the wind from long range, and Troy Harley marked and goaled in the first five minutes of the quarter, Leongatha’s defenders, including Maskell, Harry, Sean Westaway and Guy Dickson heroically kept them at bay.
At this stage, players from both sides were throwing themselves in. Toma Huther and Ben Willis, in the ‘Mental Health Round’ guernsey, were having a ding-dong battle in the ruck, but with Huther more influential after the ball came loose. Aiden Lindsay, also in the blue ‘0’ jumper for mental health awareness, Drew, Marriott, Heppell, and Bowman in everything; Reid and Knowles combining in defence, Hutchinson taking a shot from the boundary and Sean Westaway making a goal-saving tackle; Wonthaggi simply wasn’t getting reward for effort.
At one crucial stage in the ‘premiership quarter’, Cooper McInnes won the ball against the run of play, and seeing the speedy Hutchinson sprinting towards a vacant forward line, barrelled the ball ahead of him.
The race was on, Hutchinson on the hunt, but first-senior game Parrot Hayden Lindsay in hot pursuit.
The pair got to the ball together, Lindsay held it up, and Cade Maskell cleared it.
Not long after that, however, Leongtha’s Lindsay dislocated his shoulder and played no further part after a promising debut.
Finally, however, Cooper McInnes scooped up the loose ball and ran clear for the tie-breaking goal, and crucially, just seconds before the siren, Noah Anderson marked and kicked a pressure goal.
Power had the lead they needed, barely, 17 points in low-scoring affair, with a quarter to come.
Parrots’ coach Trent McMicking praised his defenders for an “unbelievable job” to that point and urged his players to take it on.
Power coach Jarryd Blair stressed the importance of winning every contest and communication if they were to break it open.
The start of the last quarter was frenetic. Willis got the first centre break to Ginnane, but Jack Blair cleared it (not for the last time that quarter) and up the other end Dickson saved a certain goal for the Power before Burns and Ginnane combined for the one Leongatha needed.
Thereafter, though, it was end-to-end stuff, or bottled up on the dead flank; Marriott cleared two Power chances, Josh Schulz and Fergus O’Connor did likewise, Drew was everywhere, Hutchinson took a shot into the breeze that actually blew backwards, Jack Blair cut off two more Parrot attacks and Toma Huther dropped back to mark on the goal line.
Leongatha never gave up but they were missing targets, and lacked the usual run-and-carry transition and ultimately it was Tom Davey who kicked the sealer after good lead up work by Mabilia and Hutchinson.
Neither team came through unscathed however with Power playmaker Ryan Sparkes concussed in a tackle in the first few minutes of the game and Matt Borschman breaking his collarbone also in the first quarter.
But it was a delighted Power coach Jarryd Blair who said after the game that the result further entrenched the belief in the group that if they “knuckle down and won those one on ones” anything was possible in 2023.
A disappointed Trent McMicking, acknowledged Wonthaggi was the better team on the day but he did takeaway some positives, including the form of Cade Maskell and Kim Drew, the efforts of Sam Forrester on Blair and the way the team kept coming right up to the finish.
Final score: Wonthaggi 6.13.49 def Leongatha 4.8.32.
