By Ken Moore
DROUIN opened its winning account for the 2009 season with a convincing 58-point victory over Sale on Saturday.
It was also the first victory for coach Ben Soumilas in his new colours, since his well documented move to the Hawks from Garfield in the off season.
After narrow losses to Traralgon, Moe and Warragul, few would begrudge a Hawk victory.
Drouin scored three goals in the opening term and kept the home side goalless to seize control and did not look back.
In the ensuing three quarters, Drouin showed no sign of slowing up and stretched the margin at each break.
Damian Carmody was the mainstay of the Hawk defence and with terrific support from David Olsen, repelled many of the better Magpie forward forays.
Bob McCallum dominated the ruck and around the ground, Pat McGrath and Malcolm Dowe never stopped running and presenting and both skilfully delivered the ball all game.
With five goals against his name, Brad Carmody provided the finishing touches and Sam Proctor played a disciplined game following around Sale captain-coach Adrian Cox all afternoon.
Magpie veteran Kane Fraser won possessions all over the ground and Corey Scholtes, in his 50th game, enjoyed a productive first half before being tagged out of the game in the second.
Depleted by injury at the moment, the most salient sign from a Magpie perspective was the performance of a number of emerging youngsters led by midfielders Terry Wheeler, Harry Cross, Tom Hams and debutant Jack Davidson.
They all put their hand up for regular senior selection with fine games.
Tigers dull Stars’ shine
GARFIELD could not reproduce the heroics of the previous week when it rolled Sale.
The Stars gave it their best shot, but were outclassed on Saturday, losing to Morwell by 50 points.
Coach Brent Eastwell put in another sustained effort gathering kicks at will and had good support through the middle from Warragul recruit Ben Jostlear and Terry Mildren.
Brett Reid showed he was coming to grips with his new ruck position and made a strong contribution.
Ned Marsh, in loose-man role in the first half and then across the forward line in the last half, drilled through two goals and had a red-hot go all game.
Garfield played in fits and starts and its forwards struggled to get their hands on the ball enough times to genuinely trouble the Tigers’ defence.
The Stars can take comfort in that they fought the game out and scored six of the last seven goals to save face on the scoreboard.
Morwell midfielders Adam Bailey, Jake Roe-Duggan and Joel Soutar cut a swathe through the Garfield defence on a regular basis.
John Read (five goals) presented well, tall forward Luke Dowling prowled across half-forward and set up a number of goals, while ruckman Luke Norder had a good duel with Brett Reid and also got some vital touches for his side.
Gulls flop while
Eagles soar
MAFFRA had a surprisingly easy 35-point victory over a very disappointing Warragul.
After a tight first quarter, the Eagles opened an 18-point gap at half-time with a four-goal-to-two second quarter.
Maffra midfielder Kelvin Porter, a youngster on the rise, kept his eyes fixed on the ball all game and did plenty of important things.
Owen Booth, a regular in the reserves last season, showed he was coming of age as a ruckman with a top game and another youngster Josh Stubbe, the 18-year-old younger brother of Daniel, offered plenty of rebound from his half-back-flank position.
Skipper Ben Batalha marshalled the back-line from the other back flank, Craig Robbins found an appetite for the ball and Sam Bristow was his ever-reliable self deep in defence.
Warragul got smashed at the stoppages and with Ryan Davey suffering a hamstring twinge early in the game, not enough Gulls stepped up to fill the void in his absence.
The consistent Brenton Sheehan again acquitted himself well at full-back, half-forward Steve Murphy, Leigh Sheehan and Des Barr all tried hard to lift their side and Brett Davis subdued Eagle playmaker Ben Coleman, who was alight early.
The biggest plus to come out of the game for Gull supporters was the performance of youngsters, Ryan Matthews and James Keeble, who both looked the part on the ground and appear to have made a stride forward in their short career on Saturday.
Warragul appears to have more depth this season, but for some unknown reason it has not been used as a collective unit over the initial month of the football season.
Forys fires for Moe
MOE recruit Matt Forys, who came back to the club this season, showed why the raps on him were so big when he kicked the last four goals of Saturday’s night’s exciting game against Traralgon to wrench the game from the grasp of the Maroons.
Forys came back to the club this season after stints in both the ACT and GVFL.
In front of a huge crowd, Forys scored seven goals in the Lions 26-point victory.
Forys had assistance downfield from Daniel Risol, James Blaser and Troy Makepeace, while Jess Bird solidified the defence and ruckman Chris Hancock triggered a number of key plays.
Burly Traralgon full-forward Tim Aitken got under the skin of the Lions’ defence all night and slotted through seven goals.
Coach Steve Hazelman, Matt Habel, Ryan Potter and Tim McQualter, who scored three early goals, all drove hard at the ball all night.
Moe, with three wins, have hit the ground running this season, while Traralgon with a win-loss ratio at one and three appears as though it will take a number of weeks to settle before putting its best foot forward.
This week’s round 5 games with likely winners in capitals.
MAFFRA v Sale (Sunday).
DROUIN v Morwell.
Garfield v LEONGATHA.
TRARALGON v Warragul.
Moe bye.
