Parrots primed for finals

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Parrots primed for finals

EYE ON THE PRIZE: Leongatha’s Cade Maskell boots an attempt at goal in another strong performance. The Parrots now have some strong momentum and will switch their focus to finals footy.

MOMENTUM heading into finals is always important in footy, and Leongatha ensured they kept theirs with a big win over Bairnsdale on Saturday.

The Parrots tore the Redlegs apart in the first term and never looked back, winning by 90 points and consolidating a top two spot heading into finals.

Coach Paul Carbis was satisfied with his team’s performance in a must-win game.

“I was really pleased with the way the boys went about it and it was great to put the game to bed at quarter-time,” he said.

“We needed to win to make top three, so we just wanted to keep the momentum we’ve built and play our brand going into finals.”

The away side was dominant from the first bounce, with players like Willis, Olden, Marriott and Hopkins dominating the middle.

This led to efficient ball-use on the outside and up front, with multiple players hitting the scoreboard.

By quarter-time, Leongatha led 61-8, the game all but over.

“Last time they beat us in contested ball, and we pride ourselves on that area,” coach Carbis said.

“We dominated them in that area from the start and the scoreboard took care of itself.”

The home team struggled to catch up in the second term, despite the effort of McCarrey, who had five majors for the game, in the forward line.

The Parrots took a 96-25 lead into the main break and then held the Redlegs to just a single behind in the third quarter, completely dominating in the contest and capitalising on the scoreboard through Dunne, Nagel, Olden and Maskell.

This gave the away side a 100-point lead at the final break.

“We stressed that it’s important to play all parts of the game and that includes defence, so I was really pleased with the effort,” coach Carbis said.

Bairnsdale won the fourth term, capitalising on windy conditions which made it hard for Leongatha to convert goal scoring opportunities.

The Parrots still emerged 160-70 winners however, putting themselves in a great position heading into their final against Sale this week.

“I didn’t care by how much we won, the important thing was getting the points and second spot,” coach Carbis said.

“We’ve got to be all hands on deck now and make sure we tick all the boxes so we can play at our best in a big game.”

If the Parrots can get up, they will face Maffra next week with a chance to make the grand final.

 

Seniors: Leongatha 23.22.160 d Bairnsdale 10.10.70.

Reserves: Leongatha 13.9.87 d Bairnsdale 5.4.34.

Thirds: Leongatha 21.12.138 d Bairnsdale 6.6.42.

Fourths: Bairnsdale 13.15.93 d Leongatha 9.7.61.

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Posted by on Aug 30 2019. 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

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