Hawks put in a long afternoon

It was another long afternoon for Drouin on Saturday.

The Hawks proved no match for a slicker, quicker and more skilful Moe, at Moe, losing 18-28 to 2-2.

But the effort and some of the passages of play by Drouin deserved a bit better reward on the scoreboard.

Drouin was on the back foot from the start as Moe chipped the ball around patiently to set up chances and dominated the first term.

They had 4-10 on the board at the first break to one behind.

A tricky cross breeze that strengthened to a wind and, after half time, was joined by rain didn’t make goal scoring easy.

Drouin looked set to kick its first goal in the opening term when firstgamer Brendan Dower got on the end of a quick forward move but missed from the top of the goal square.

It was only Dower’s third game of Aussie Rules and throughout the match showed a natural talent that endorsed his inclusion.

The scoreboard wasn’t the only lowlight for the Hawks.

Their already depleted playing stocks took further hits with David Olsen (hamstring), James McKellar (suspected broken arm, his second such injury in a matter of months) and Luke Ferguson (knee) leaving spaces on the interchange bench.

Drouin’s only two goals came in the second quarter and both from Damien Allison.

They were good goals, too, from stretching distances in the strengthening wind.

Allison had a solid game whether forward or giving lion-hearted ruckman Bob McCallum a “breather”.

However, there’d be no addition to the Hawks’ score after half time although they did press close on a number of occasions.

Tom Barr was again Drouin’s best with four quarters of hard contesting, running and winning the ball at contests.

Fellow on-baller Liam Axford also won a good share of possessions around the ground and backmen Sam Piner and David Miller didn’t hoist any white flags despite constant bombardment of the ball into Moe’s forward line.

The win was Moe’s second for the year to stay well in the race for the “five”.

Although not severely tested on Saturday the Lions’ defence appears solid and they have a deep and talented midfield group, so deep that coach James Blaser allowed himself the luxury of spending most of the game roaming the forward lines.

And they have a strong focal point in Darnell Grech who kicked six goals.

Drouin was again unable to muster enough players to field a reserves’ team, forfeiting for the second time this season.