Lamb kicks all goals as Gulls fall to Parrots
It’s now Leongatha vs the rest as the Parrots maintained their perfect record to defeat Warragul by 68 points on Saturday.
The Gulls certainly weren’t left wanting for effort but couldn’t contain the bigger bodies of the Leongatha midfield as they went down 6.5 (41) to 16.13 (109).
The loss leaves Warragul a win and a half outside the top five, while Leongatha is now the only side in the Gippsland League to have not lost a game thanks to Sale’s win over Moe.
Remarkably, star forward Jed Lamb kicked all six of Warragul’s goals, which is the first time in league history a single player has kicked that many goals as their team’s lone goalkicker.
While that statistic itself was incredible, it does point towards one of the Gulls’ main problems on the day, that being their forward line.
Indeed, as it has been in other games this season, Lamb was the only Warragul target inside 50 able to reliably kick goals as their other forwards were kept well and truly quiet by the excellent Leongatha backline.
Jack Ginnane and Justin Pellicano both kicked three for the home team, who unlike their opponents were able to find a variety of ways to score.
Apart from Lamb it was the usual suspects for Warragul playing well, as Nick Graham continued his brilliant season in the midfield and Sean Masterson kept his intercept game rolling in the defensive half.
The game started reasonably well for the Gulls, as the tap work of ruck Mitchell Smart consistently gave Warragul first use, allowing Lamb to be isolated in one-on-one contests and kick three goals in the first term while Leongatha kicked three of their own.
The second term, however, saw the Parrots tighten up defensively, particularly on Lamb, who was unable to find the same ease of movement he had early.
Adding to this was the fact that the Leongatha midfield was starting to take control, particularly at the contest, with Tom Mariott and Cade Maskell doing what they do best.
Four Leongatha goals in the second term to just one for the Gulls allowed the margin to stretch out to 25 points at the main break, though the Gulls had hardly lost any admirers.
The fierce pressure that had defined their win over Traralgon last week was still present, but this time their opponents simply had the answers to the questions Warragul were asking.
Any hopes of a comeback were quickly erased in the third quarter as the Parrots found another gear, kicking seven goals to one to put the game beyond doubt heading into the final term.
The issue at that point was no longer that Warragul were unable to find space for their forwards, it was that Leongatha were almost completely depriving them of opportunities, keeping the ball locked in their forward half for most of the quarter.
By the time the final term started the game had clearly run its course, as Leongatha eased the foot off the pedal and went into conservation mode, kicking just two more goals for the game to Warragul’s one.
The game was plainly a case of Warragul losing to the best, and though their pressure and effort were of a good standard, their forward line continues to be their Achilles’ heel six weeks into the season. Improvement will be needed in this area if the Gulls hope to consistently contend against some of the top sides in the league.
Warragul will next head to Sale to play a Magpies team who are full of confidence, while Leongatha heads to Maffra in a battle between two of the Gippsland League’s most dominant teams over the last decade.
Warragul’s top performers were Jed Lamb, Nicholas Graham, Sean Masterson, Brayden Fowler, Brad Hefford and Mitchell Smart.
Jake van der Pligt, Tom Marriott, Cade Maskell, Aaron Turton, Josh Hopkins, Sean Westaway were the pick of the bunch for Leongatha.