Incredible half by Leongatha topples Maffra
Defending premier Leongatha short-circuited Maffra with an incredible second half in Saturday night’s Gippsland League second semi-final played under lights at Traralgon.
It was a second half scoreboard black-out for Maffra as the Parrots piled on 12 goals to none to storm to a brilliant 16-9 to 5-11 victory.
For a half the match was a typical pressure finals contest.
Maffra had a slight edge going into the dressing rooms at half time leading by nine points, 5-7 to 4-4.
It got the first two goals from dangerous forward Mitch Bennett and Lachlan Channing before Leongatha’s Chris Dunne broke through for his side’s first only two minutes before the quarter-time siren.
The Eagles had been a bit better and cleaner around the contests but overall there was not a great deal of difference.
Both teams posted three goals in the second term, Bennett getting another two for Maffra.
But that was the end of the story for the Eagles.
The third quarter started in much the same style as the opening half, neither side giving much with plenty of strong tackling and hard body contests.
It took Leongatha 11 minutes to get the second half’s first goal. Then the floodgates opened. The Parrots got another four for the quarter to open a more than handy 22-point lead – 9-8 to 5-7.
The last quarter continued to be one-way traffic.
Seven goals and one behind to Leongatha, only two behinds to Maffra.
Supporter camps – both teams have a strong core of “never-miss-agame” fans – were stunned at the end.
Maffra’s because they’d probably have to go back almost 20 years to remember their side being blown away as it was from halfway through the third quarter, especially in a final.
Leongatha’s because they’d won by a commanding margin when for a large part the match looked destined for a fight to the death finish.
For the second final in a row the Parrots didn’t have a poor player.
Ruckman Ben Willis, not the tallest in the league but possibly the strongest, got the better of young Maffra opponent Keiran Jones after the taller Jones had started well.
The Eagles’ on-ballers and midfield players led by Jack Johnstone, Alex Carr and Kel Porter had all been influential early but, like the rest of the side, had no answer when Leongatha turned up the voltage.
Chris Verboon again superbly led a Leongatha defence that was impregnable in the second half, Tom Marriott took charge around the centre of the ground and they had plenty up forward that kept Maffra’s defence guessing.
The Parrots had 10 goalkickers led by Dunne and Jack Ginnane, who had another excellent finals’ game, with three each.
Talls Julian Lockwood and James Lloyd got two apiece and Marriott, Tom Forrester, Josh Hopkins, Ryan Olden, Cameron Stone and Cade Maskell chipped in with singles.
It was a far different story at the other end of the ground.
Bennett kicked three of Maffra’s meagre five-goal tally with only Channing and Tom Jolly also hitting the scoreboard.
Saturday’s was only one game in a season that still has plenty to play out and Maffra didn’t finish on top of the ladder without reason.
The Parrots are into their third successive grand final on the back of a month of outstanding football.
Their loss at home to then bottom of the ladder Drouin in round 16 must have been an aberration.
Since then they’ve demolished Bairnsdale (by 131 points), Sale (twice, by 59 and 69 points) and now Maffra (by 64 points).