Parrots forced to work hard

MORWELL came out firing when it hosted Leongatha on Saturday and it took some time for the Parrots to come out on top.
The Morwell boys ran fast and booted the first two goals, immediately putting Leongatha on the back foot.
The Morwell ground was in good condition, the temperature was cold and some showers fell throughout the match.
Leongatha hit back though, the backline tightened and the midfield started to get the ball out with Maskell and Hillberg adding early goals.
Defying its lowly position on the ladder, Morwell wasn’t intimidated as it matched it with the Parrots in the opening quarter, both sides scoring 3.4 apiece.
But after quarter time the Tigers were only able to score three goals for the remaining three quarters as Leongatha added 11 goals to run out comfortable 56 point victors.
In term two the Parrots, led well by defenders Sean Westaway, Aaron Coyle and Joel Sinclair were able to keep Morwell scoreless while adding two goals itself. These defenders continued their dominance in the second half.
But the standout for the Parrots were Shem Hawking and Tom Marriott. Hawking played a blinder on the wing and even snuck forward for two goals. Marriott is a key in the middle; if he’s on fire the rest of the team is on fire.
The third quarter saw Leongatha’s best for the match as it piled on 7.3 to Morwell’s 1.2 to blow the game apart.
Shem Hawking on the wing was having a big influence as was Tom Marriott in the middle with Zac Vernon having a commanding game.
Up forward Cade Maskell, three goals, Aaron Hillberg, three goals, Josh Hopkins two goals and Chris Dunne, two goals, were able to finish off the good work.
At the last change Leongatha led 12.11 to Morwell’s 4.6.
Luke Bowman was having a good game in the midfield and consistently gained possessions while Zac Vernon too had a good game. Vernon’s two big tackles in the last quarter had two Morwell players getting up very gingerly.
The last quarter was again an even contest as Morwell fought the game out to the finish despite a few injuries, both sides scoring two goals apiece.
It certainly wasn’t Leongatha’s best outing but it keeps the club’s unbeaten run intact.
The only injury concern would be Hayden Browne who came off the ground and was rested on the bench. The club believes the injury isn’t serious enough to miss games but will assess this week.
The finals are fast approaching with Leongatha set to fine tune its game as it faces fourth placed Drouin at Leongatha. Leongatha will field all four football teams in finals with three of the four likely to gain the “second chance” and the week off; a magnificent achievement for the club.
This Saturday is a great opportunity to see how Leongatha is going as it meets a finals aspirant in the Hawks. It is also the last home game for the club and a good chance for the public to see and support Leongatha in action before finals begin on September 3.

First in: big Parrot ruckman Ben Willis gets his hand to the ball in this ball-up as Leongatha’s Tom Marriott and Hayden Browne wait for the gather.
Photo by domamato.

Short URL: /?p=19437

Posted by Sarah Vella on Aug 24 2016. 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