Skipper leads the way to win

Mitch Golby produced another impressive game for the Gippsland Power as it broke through for its first win of the season against the Northern Knights at Morwell on Saturday. 29207Picture: Stewart Chambers

By Marc McGowan
THE return of skipper Koby Stevens coincided with Gippsland Power’s first victory of the season at Morwell on Saturday.
Stevens played his first game back for the Power after AIS/AFL Academy duties in South Africa and helped his side defeat the struggling Northern Knights by 41 points.
The inspirational midfielder racked up 26 possessions as coach Damian Carroll enjoyed success for the first time with his new club.
“Koby leads from the front and his attack on the ball is first class – he’s always hard at it,” Carroll said.
“He’s also strong overhead and took about 15 marks for the day.
“His work-rate was outstanding and he brought other guys into the play. He just gives a bit of voice and enthusiasm.”
Gippsland’s ball use was still slightly below par but the Power played at a high intensity and laid an impressive 57 tackles.
Jed Lamb, David Donchi and John Butcher booted goals in the opening quarter to give their team a seven-point lead over the Knights at the first break.
Gippsland continued its good work in the second term, with firstly Russell Lehman (26 touches) and then Butcher kicking majors to have Northern on the back foot.
But back-to-back Knights goals brought the visitors back within reach.
Some good work from Power stars Stevens and Lehman helped Tim Northe register a late major as Gippsland went to half-time with a slightly disappointing 16-point advantage.
The Power pulled away further in the third quarter with in-form ruckman Nathan Vardy dominating the hit-outs.
Vardy also combined well with centre half-back Jack Weston to cut off Northern’s forward forays.
The difference was 24 points at three-quarter-time and Gippsland finished the Knights off with a six-goal final term.
The Power’s impressive spread of multiple goalkickers hurt the Knights with Lamb, Northe, debutant Luke Tynan, Butcher, Donchi and Lehman all managing two majors.
Key forward Butcher is rounding into some solid form and compiled 19 disposals and 10 marks, including six contested, for the afternoon.
Northern added some respectability to the scoreboard with the final three majors of the day.
Midfielder Mitch Golby (31 and seven tackles) performed another sterling run-with role – this time against the Knights’ Kane Lambert (20) – and has been one of Gippsland’s most consistent contributors.
The Power’s win moves it within half a game of the eighth-placed Gold Coast.
The two teams meet at Queensland’s Carrara Stadium on Saturday at 3.20pm.
Carroll was relieved to pick up his maiden win as Gippsland’s coach and saw definite improvement in his players’ performance.
“It was a good day and the boys played well and we’re pretty happy with the outcome,” he said.
“We’ve played some good footy in patches this year but it was good to put four quarters together and win all four quarters.”
But Carroll is under no illusions about how big the Gold Coast clash is for his 1-3 team.
“It’s not going to be easy. They’ve got to fly up on the day and play a game and, as a curtain raiser, I’m sure they’ll (the Gold Coast) have a fair bit of support,” he said.
“We’ve just got to focus on going and doing a job.
“It’s a different experience and we’ll be drumming into them early in the week, and we did after the game, that the sole focus is to win a game of footy up there.”