Maffra takes full toll on wounded Maroons
Maffra ran over the top of a wounded Traralgon on Saturday to win the qualifying final at Morwell.
The Eagles dominated the last quarter kicking an off-target 3-9 to two behinds to score 11-23 to 8-7.
Maffra had four changes to its side of the previous week, the “ins” including captain Sam Pleming and rover Kel Porter, two of the best in Saturday’s win that will see it take on undefeated Leongatha in the second semi-final.
But Traralgon had eight changes from a week earlier, some “rested” in the final home and away round or recovering from injury.
By the time the teams ran onto the ground the number of Traralgon changes had grown to nine.
Coach Mark Collison, not named initially because of a foot injury, came in as an 11th hour inclusion for Michael Burge, who injured a calf in the pre-match warm-up.
Collison clearly struggled and things were made worse when Tim Northe injured a hamstring early in the game, Michael Jacobsen suffered back problems and the Maroons main forward Lee Stockdale left the ground seeing stars after being hit flush in the face by the ball kicked from only about a metre away when he attempted a smother.
Stockdale lay on the ground for a considerable time and probably would not have returned to the play had it not been a final.
Maffra didn’t really take the toll it should have of Traralgon’s woes.
It was inaccurate from the start 2-6 to 3-1 in the first quarter setting a pattern for its day.
At half time the Eagles led 5-11 to 5-2 and it was 8-14 to 8-5 at three-quarter time.
The final term was one-way traffic, the ball in Maffra’s forward line for most of it.
Ruckman Trent Knobel played a big part in the win outpointing Ben Amberg and in plenty of action around the ground, a big lift on the previous week’s clash with Warragul.
Porter won a feast of possession on his return to the side and Pleming showed his class in defence initially and then forward with a number of solid one-grab marks in the tricky wind.
Centre-half forward Andrew Petrou kicked three goals for Maffra and Pleming two in the second half.
Traralgon’s situation would have been a lot worse but for some great defensive work by Jordan Bourke, Jackson Hall and Haydn Hector.