Drouin fails to go on after brilliant start
Leongatha fought back from a 38point deficit oneminute into the second quarter to snatch victory from Drouin at Drouin on Saturday.
The Parrots, despite a heavily depleted line-up, showed plenty of “ticker” to steady the ship, cut the gap to 23 points at half time and then take full charge in the second half.
Final scores were 12-15 to 9-12.
There were also some astute moves from the coaching box to counter the strengths that had given Drouin its lightning start.
Leongatha tightened up on Todd and Bailey Beck who’d kicked five of the Hawks’ early goals that had taken them to a 7-3 to 1-2 lead and swung several players onto close checking roles on onballer Eddie Morris.
The moves didn’t completely nullify those players from continuing to be solid contributors but they slowed down the Hawks’ ball movement and helped bring other Leongatha players into the game.
Drouin ruckman Bob McCallum was having a field day against a stand-in opponent with a big gap to fill.
Leongatha’s number one ruckman Ben Willis was out injured and with its other key tall James Lloyd also missing had been under the pump around the ball ups and throw ins.
Drouin was still well in scoreboard control at half time despite the Parrots’ readjustments but the second half was pretty much one-way traffic.
The third term, in which Leongatha kicked 3-8 to just one behind to lead by two points, was marred by the downing off the ball of Bob McCallum.
While McCallum was still lying on the ground in the hands of trainers Drouin got the ball forward and would have had a set shot at goal but for the break-out of a melee that saw Leongatha awarded a free kick.
McCallum recovered to continue to play a leading role for the Hawks in what proved a fruitless effort to wrest back control.
Leongatha still had the initiative for the early part of the final quarter until Morris, at the 12-minute mark, ended the goal drought since the first minute of the second term with a brilliant goal.
A five-minute period during which the Hawks pushed hard in attack only returned three behinds but had them within four points.
Three Leongatha goals in about as many minutes to Lachy Wright, who has played most of the year in the reserves, settled the issue.
It was a disappointing day for Drouin after such a bright start but one positive was coach Jordan Kingi taking the field for the first time this year and wasting no time to make his presence felt.
The forward lines were depleted with Josh Seri moving north and Jamie Ferguson sidelined with an ankle injury.
David Olsen, who was a pre-match fitness risk, kicked the game’s first goal but didn’t last much longer.
Eye-catching for Drouin supporters was the performance of Nathan Guy on Parrots’ goal kicker Chris Dunne, a match-up that initially raised a few eyebrows.
Dunne was forced well out of goal range for most of his kicks, got only one goal from a goal square scrimmage late in the game and had only another couple of “half chances”.
McCallum, the Beck brothers, Chris Robinson, Morris and Joe Collins, all consistently good performers this year, stood tall again for Drouin.
Leongatha showed its depth being able to recover from its start and win the game without top-liners Lloyd, Hayden Browne, Willis, Tom Marriott and Cade Maskell.
A welcome sign for it was the return after almost two years by Nick Nagel in the reserves.
When fully fit and match-hardened he will be in the club’s best 22.