Leongatha finish on top

THE Parrots have been guaranteed the week off after defeating Maffra and finishing atop the Gippsland league ladder following the last round on Saturday.
Leongatha players did all that was asked of them and that was win to ensure a slightly easier run through to the second semi-final.
The main negative to come out of the win was the hamstring injury to young defender Louis Riseley which may well see the end of his season. Riseley has been a regular senior and his loss will require a reshuffle of the Parrot defence in a fortnight’s time.
Zac Vernon is to come back in and he can play defence while Chris Dunne, who had thumb soreness, will also fit back into the team.
Maffra had at least three players due to come back to its team also.
Maffra will now face off against Traralgon this Saturday at Sale in the second semi-final; the winner to play the Parrots the week after. In the Elimination Final on Sunday at Traralgon it will be Moe up against Morwell.
The footy was of a good standard and Leongatha supporters liked the result. The ground came up pretty well despite the rain during the week with the Parrots kicking into a breeze towards the chook sheds end in the opening term.
A stingy backline led by Sean Westaway, Ben Chalmers and Chris Verboon saw Maffra kick just 1.4 with the breeze while the Parrots added 2.5 in the tricky conditions.
The Parrots made better use of the conditions as it kicked with the breeze to the swimming pool end where it added four goals to lead 6.8 to Maffra’s 2.5.
With Danny Sheen at centre half forward starting to get on top of Chris Verboon he sparked a Maffra revival and added several goals in the process.
The standard of the game raised a notch, as too did a bit of niggle, as the Eagles sought to claw its way back into the contest.
Maffra added four, third quarter goals in the dropping breeze but importantly the Parrots added three of its own to maintain a 16 point buffer going into the last quarter.
There was certainly plenty of time for the Eagles to get up in the final quarter but both sides added 2.2 and the 16 points was the final margin.
Ben Chalmers did a superb job all day on the dangerous Daniel Bedggood holding him goalless. Sean Westaway and Sam Forrester also did well down back.
In the midfield the Parrots were best served by Luke Bowman, Ryan Olden and Josh Schelling in the ruck.
Leongatha’s 11goals were shared around by nine players in a very even forward line effort; Schelling and Maskell the only multiple goals kickers with two apiece.
The Leongatha reserves got beaten by 11 points to drop from top to second and will now play Traralgon in the qualifying final on Saturday.
The thirds had a big win to finish on top of the ladder and will also have the week off.
In a nailbiter the Parrots’ fourths side scraped into the finals after drawing with Maffra.
The Parrots were in front but a rushed behind late in the game tied the scores with the siren sounding 30 seconds later. The Parrots will play Maffra again in the Elimination Final this Sunday.

Clear space: Leongatha’s Brok Davidson gets a quick boot to ball before his Maffra opponent applies a tackle.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Aug 30 2017. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry