Race for finals

As the home and away seasons in all three district leagues head towards the halfway points some tight battles are emerging for finals positions in Gippsland and Ellinbank and District leagues. But in Mid Gippsland there’ll have to be a few upsets to change the “five” of Newborough, Morwell East, Yallourn Yallourn North, Mirboo North and Yinnar that have a twogame break over the closest pursuer, Yarragon. A couple of results in Gippsland League at the weekend opened up the fight for its finals positions, especially fourth and fifth spots. Bairnsdale grabbed fifth place for the time being at least with a good win over a rival for that spot, Moe, and Wonthaggi Power moved into the mix just a game outside the “five” after toppling Maffra that before Saturday was second. And Sale’s hopes to be in a position to mount a challenge in the second half of the season took another hit when it lost at home to Drouin. Warragul stayed in the top group despite a loss to Traralgon, that has regained second position on the ladder, but the improved Gulls were far from out of their depth. The Leongatha juggernaut continued with its eighth commanding win, on Saturday against Morwell that had broken through for its first win the week before. The Mid Gippsland round saw the top five clash against the bottom five. Results were predictable and the gaps between the likely finalists and the rest widened. Yarragon, closest to the top five, dropped two games out as a result of its loss to Morwell East. Cold and wet conditions often bring teams closer together but not in the MGFL on Saturday where the games were all one-sided. Newborough beat Trafalgar by 93 points, Yallourn Yallourn North trounced Thorpdale by 81, Yinnar won by 69 points over Hill End, Mirboo North was a 60-point winner against Boolarra and Morwell East accounted for Yarragon by 41 points. Highlight of the EDFL round was the Sunday clash between Warragul Industrials that was in four34th spot going into the match-up against top of the table Koo wee rup. Koo wee rup added further credence to its standing with a hardfought one goal win at Western Park. There were no surprises in Saturday’s games. However, another of the main contenders Bunyip showed premiership winning form in the first half as it dismantled Nar Nar Goon. Things evened up in the second half but it was still a big 17-12 to 5-5 win for the Bulldogs that sent Nar Nar Goon out of the “six” on percentage. Ellinbank just failed to get its first win of the year going down by eight points to Buln Buln in a match that was tight throughout. Cora Lynn broke away in the last quarter to defeat Nilma-Darnum 11-13 to 7-6, Garfield thumped Poowong by 123 points, Neerim Neerim South was also a big winner toppling Lang Lang by 89 points and Catani was a five-goal winner over Longwarry. Nyora had the bye.