Warragul clear 4th on ladder
Another important scalp taken and a hold fourth spot on the ladder - it couldn’t have been much better for Warragul on Saturday.
The Gulls had Sale’s measure from the start to post a comfortable 8-16 to 5-6 win.
It could have been even more comfortable but for a scoreless last quarter by Warragul that dropped off a bit and sprayed a couple of shots at goals.
At the end of the day none of that mattered.
The mission had been accomplished.
And it put to rest a 13game losing streak by the Gulls against Sale.
Warragul’s side on Saturday was certainly its best for the year.
Leigh Sheehan was a late withdrawal from the team on Saturday morning with a back problem and Tom Hobbs was not released by his affiliated VFL club.
But two from VFL lists came in, Tom Muir and Kody Wilson, as well as Matt Rennie and Dylan Proctor returning from injuries and youngster Caleb Serong unavailable for the previous round.
Five of Warragul’s eight goals came from the inclusions, Rennie getting three.
But it was around the ground where the Gulls held all the aces.
Chris Carey had the better of Sale’s Jack Lipman in the ruck and the additions of Muir and Wilson gave greater depth with the midfield rotations.
On-ballers Brad Scalzo and Nathan Paredes, Warragul’s best players all season, were in the thick of things from whoa to go each collecting 36 possessions.
The Gulls were able to afford to have Sam Russell and Tom Axford playing permanently in defence where their run and carry to set up forward moves had Sale under pressure.
Nic Stevenson had the better of inter-league forward John Gooch as the backlines, as a unit, held up firmly all game.
The match was well within Warragul’s keeping when it went to the three-quarter time huddle with the scoreboard showing it 44 points up.
Another plus was that the Gulls came through without injuries.
The only downside was the last term.
At least that gives the side something to work on.
The inability to maintain pressure or concentration for four quarters is probably the biggest question the players and coaching staff will try to address.
Coach Steve Kidd can’t quite put his finger on the reason; be it mental, physical or gaining the experience that only wins bring to really put oppositions away when in winning positions.
It would have been a difficult task for Warragul to select is best players on Saturday.
Week in, week out performers Scalzo, Paredes and Carey were close to the top of the list again, Muir certainly had a top game as did Stevenson, Axford, Brad Hefford and the side’s “baby’ Serong.
The Gulls will lose Muir and Wilson for next week’s test against Traralgon but Leigh Sheehan is more than likely to return and Proctor will be better for a game behind him after missing a number of weeks with injury.
Rennie’s value to the side - he’d missed two rounds with a finger injury - was underlined by his three good goals at important times.
Full forward Brayden Fowler got two goals but missed a few.
The other goal scorers were Muir, Wilson and Hefford.