Nyora power on undefeated
Only six of the 40 teams in the four district football leagues have clean sheets after three rounds of their seasons.
Maffra (Gippsland League) and Nyora (Ellinbank and district) are the only undefeated sides in their competitions.
In Mid Gippsland and West Gippsland there are two in each with a three wins record.
On the weekend Yinnar and Trafalgar maintained unblemished seasons in Mid Gippsland while in West Gippsland defending premier Inverloch-Kongwak and surprise packet Garfield are the only ones among the 10 teams not to have tasted defeat.
Ellinbank and district provided the most competitive round three.
Buln Buln and Neerim Neerim South, both seeking their first wins played out a threepoint thriller, Buln hanging on to win 8-9 to 86 in a match where the gap in scores was less than a goal at each of the breaks.
Longwarry, at home, held off Poowong 14-10 to 12-15 in a clash between two sides that could well be in the mix for finals.
Cory Lenders with five goals, Braydon McHugh four and Daniel Fry three kicked all but two of the Crows’ goals.
The ease of Warragul Industrials’ 12-11 to 45 win over previously undefeated Ellinbank was something of a surprise.
Dusties were always on top and held Ellinbank goalless in the final term.
Former league best and fairest Daniel Barrand, named in Ellinbank’s best on Saturday, added further bad news to the club’s day after the match when he announced his retirement, following many injuries.
Nyora dumped last year’s premier Catani by 29 points at Catani.
The much-improved Nyora was quickly out of the blocks, its 26-point opening quarter break pointing it on the way to an important win.
Nilma-Darnum posted win number two scoring 14-18 to Lang Lang’s 9-6, Tom Campbell’s best on the ground performance capped by five goals.
The surprise of the Gippsland league round was Sale’s 13-14 to 9-16 win over Traralgon under lights at Traralgon on Saturday night.
Six goals in the third quarter swung the match the Magpies’ way after they’d trailed by nine points at the midway mark.
Maffra has put an early stamp on the competition with its third strong win, on Saturday demolishing Wonthaggi 24-27 to 5-5.
In the other games Leongatha trounced Morwell by 136 points, Bairnsdale downed Drouin by 87 and Moe was a 58-point victor at Warragul. All West Gippsland matches were one-sided. Garfield’s 19-16 to 4-6 casting aside of Kilcunda-Bass was the most striking.
Also a bit of a surprise was Koo wee rup’s defeat of Cora Lynn by a comfortable 48 points.
Nar Nar Goon trounced Bunyip 19-18 to 6-5 and Inverloch-Kongwak was a big 107-point winner over Korumburra-Bena.
In Mid Gippsland winners of both their opening games, Thorpdale and Trafalgar, fought it out at Thorpdale on Sunday, the visiting Bloods breaking away in the second half to a solid win.
Morwell East and Mirboo North fought out the closest of Saturday’s games, East getting home by three points 10-9 to 10-6.
Mirboo North and Newborough, a couple of the league’s powerhouses for a number of years, look a bit down on previous levels.
Newborough copped a 19-15 to 7-5 hiding from Yinnar, Bradley McBride outscoring the Bulldogs by himself with eight goals.
Hill End’s “high” after the previous round’s win against Newborough was a distant memory on Saturday night after it was on the end of a 26-10 to 6-4 thrashing by Yallourn Yallourn North.
Yarragon got its first win on the board downing Boolarra 15-5 to 9-4.