By Ken Moore
DROUIN staked its claim as a real premiership chance after it clobbered Sale by 73 points in the qualifying final at Moe on Saturday.
The Hawks beat a shell-shocked Magpies in every facet of the game.
Drouin dominated the early proceedings and kicked seven first quarter goals, which provided a pointer for the future and drove home their advantage with five second-term goals to take an unassailable 74-point lead into the half-time break.
Pat McGrath, Sam Proctor and Daniel Barrand wreaked havoc midfield and Andy Soumilas, while below his norm due to a bout of gastro, still did his bit.
Two of the more unheralded Hawks this season, Hayden Calway and Keegan Bott, also stepped up with fine midfield performances.
The former regularly broke lines and offered plenty of pace and bite and the latter – the son of former league president, Eric – took a number of good marks and often pumped the ball forward from his wing position.
The only downside for Drouin was a shoulder injury to star forward Adam Cook, who left the field early in the second term – but not before he had steered through three goals and shown a glimpse of his talent. In Cook’s absence, Sean Proctor proved to be an adequate replacement and he hauled in a number of strong marks and snared three goals despite spraying a few shots on goal.
League leading goalkicker Matt Ferguson and key forward Nick Fowler could not manage a behind between them, well marked by their respective Hawk opponents, Damian Carmody and Jay Barr.
“Everything clicked today and the boys carried out their instructions well,” Drouin coach Ben Soumilas said.
“I was really pleased with the movement of the forward line, the space we were able to create and the delivery of the ball was excellent.”
For Sale, four time best-and-fairest Shane Fyfe, who returned this season from Vermont, swept the ball out of defence many times and was the Magpies best and Peter Mcfarlane was the only forward to constantly menace the Hawks defence.
Brett Hudson toiled well in the ruck, defenders Ollie Collins and Andrew Quirk did their bit and wingman Adam Wallace was not the worse player.
Sale only outscored the Hawks in the last quarter – when the Hawks only had 17 fit players. Mind you, Sale also had its injury woes, with Fyfe, boom recruit Matt Ferguson and Kane Fraser suffering bad injuries during the game and the trio will be in doubt to play on Sunday against Maffra at Traralgon.
MEANWHILE, Drouin’s reserves did not fare as well, going down to Maffra by 38 points, and they will face Sale in the first semi final on Saturday.
Catani recruit Vince Meehl offered good drive out of defence, Rhys Fairlie, Matt Hedley and Jordan Kingi competed strongly, Nathan Ruskin pulled off some timely interceptions in defence and Troy Kneebone (two goals) was the most productive of the Hawks forwards. Reserves leading goalkicker, Maffra’s Jason Langshaw, kicked six goals to make it 52 majors for the season proved a thorn in the Hawks defence.
SOME things never change.
Come September when finals football is played, Maffra once again find themselves in the winners’ circle.
That was the story on Sunday when the Eagles proved far too good for Leongatha – winning by 49 points. In a game of momentum swings, the Parrots burst out of the blocks with the first four goals, before Maffra replied with the next nine to set up a 35-point advantage midway through the second quarter.
Leongatha then rallied with five of the next six goals to reduce the margin to 12 points at three-quarter time. In the last-quarter, Maffra answered the challenge emphatically with six unanswered goals to win comfortably.
The Eagles had a good spread of contributors led by midfielders Kelvin Porter, Shaun Bates, Josh Stubbe and Gary Jones. Ruckman Owen Booth was superb in the first half and Ben Batalha marshalled the back half with great support from Matt Johnston. Forwards Daniel Bedggood, Winston Gieschen and Daniel Stubbe provided a good target.
For Leongatha, Gippsland Power’s Matt Willcocks led and marked strongly, Beau Vernon picked up big numbers and wingman Julian Stone prominent in the first half. Rhett McLennan offered sound last line defence and under-16 Aaron Heppell won his fair share of disposals and used the ball smartly.
Maffra looked ominous and such is its stellar finals record; its victory will not be popular with the four teams left in the premiership race.
Tips: Second semi final: DROUIN v Traralgon (Maffra, Saturday)
First semi final: Sale v MAFFRA (Traralgon, Sunday)
