Moe escapes at Drouin after trailing by 39pts
Drouin came within a breath of causing the upset of the Gippsland League season against Moe, a certain finalist and “top three” contender, at Drouin on Saturday.
Moe escaped by kicking the last seven goals of the game, from the 21minute mark of the third term, to win by eight points – 12-13 to 11-11.
When Michael Theodoridis kicked his 5th and Drouin’s 11th goal after another strong mark midway through the third quarter the Hawks were 39 points up.
Some fumbles and dropped marks when in the clear had also cost some good scoring opportunities.
With such a lot at stake for them the Lions were always going to try to mount a fightback.
They did and key experienced play makers Col Sambrook, coach James Blaser and Peter Ainsworth lifted to fire their side.
Drouin’s first three quarters were by far the best football it had played all year.
On-ballers Liam Axford and Jordan Kingi took full advantage of coach and ruckman Bob McCallum’s dominance to give the Hawks control at the stoppages.
The defence was terrific and much more positive, going more direct to team mates breaking clear or to 50-50 contests.
Both sides had 3-1 on the board after 13 minutes but it was Drouin that grabbed the initiative to take a 6-4 to 3-2 lead at quarter time.
Theodoridis was outstanding.
He got the Hawks first two goals and laid off a pass to Clayton Kingi for another.
Zac Watson, in only his second game up from the thirds, kicked a classy goal on the run; Rhys Salter in his first game for the year since returning from work in northern Australia converted a set shot, and Campbell Jolly finished off a determined move involving a number of Hawks.
A few mistakes crept into Drouin’s game early in the second quarter and Moe capitalised with the first two goals.
Watson steadied things for the Hawks with his second goal after marking and Thedoridis got another just on half time for an 8-7 to 5-5 lead.
To that stage Drouin didn’t have any “passengers”.
McCallum, Jordan Kingi and Axford were in charge around the ball; defenders David Olsen, Darcy Irwin and Dan Seri controlled their territory and Watson and Clayton Kingi gave run and created opportunities as well as hitting the scoreboard.
The Hawks looked like going on with the job after a lightning start to the third term.
Clayton Kingi goaled within a minute of the start, Thedoridis speared off a sharp handball to Liam Anderson to enable him to run into an open goal then kicked Drouin 39 points ahead with his 5th goal that proved to be the side’s last.
Whether it was fatigue, the fact they were in rare territory with a good lead or Moe’s lift that changed the game is hard to say.
Possibly it was a combination of all three.
Drouin’s best three over the three quarters – McCallum, Theodoridis and Axford – had chances to kick goals that might have stopped the Lions’ momentum, but missed.
For most of the last term it was a case of Drouin trying to hold on.
A couple of costly defensive errors added to the pressure and some players that were on top in the first half drifted out of the game.
It wasn’t until 26 minutes into the last quarter that Moe hit the front.
It was a disappointed group of Hawks that trudged off the ground to join equally disappointed supporters in the dressing room.
But, even though eventually on the losing end, it was a good step forward for Drouin.