Sale and Maffra went into the bye of the Gippsland League season on a positive note.
The Magpies and Eagles got much-needed wins on the board in Round 6 action, each returning home after successful West Gippsland assignments.
With the league now breaking for a modern incarnation of interleague, a number of players will be able to rest up.
The Gippsland League is playing an in-house interleague carnival this weekend, featuring the best players under the age of 25.
Maffra broke through for its first win of the season.
The Eagles took to Western Park, and held off a determined Warragul to win 8.14 (62) to 6.11 (47).
Not much separated combatants throughout the day, although a two-goal to none third term allowed Maffra to establish a 21-point lead.
The Eagles were then able to maintain a margin somewhere within this vicinity in the last.
Both teams shared three goals in the opening term, although Maffra did have to work its way back after the Gulls had twice as many scoring shots.
Left-footer Ben Brunt led the way for the winners in a best-on-ground performance, followed by Brayden Monk, John Butcher, Tom Thatcher, Alex Carr and Ed Carr.
Eagle players who had yet to sing the song after a senior victory made up quite a contingent of those in the ‘inner circle’ when the visitors entered the rooms to belt out ‘We Are the Red and Blacks’.
Brodie Johnson became the latest Maffra player to make his senior debut at the weekend.
With the Eagles undergoing a rebuilding phase, coach Anthony Robbins has shown a willingness to play the kids, and he said a win would do wonders for their confidence.
“Much better to win than lose of course, it was nice to get a win, especially down there, not easy down there but we got the job done,” he said.
“Both sides wasted opportunities at different times that put scoreboard pressure on each other. It was a bit of an error-ridden game, however both sides at different times played good footy.”
Warragul found service from Liam Serong, Nick Mulqueen, Liam Sumner, Sam Whibley, Corbin Sutherland and Brad Hefford.
The bye may have come at a good time for the Gulls, as they have a mounting casualty ward.
The unfortunate Warragul squad was so depleted at the weekend, its reserves only had nine registered players and needed five fill-ins to get it up to 14 – the minimum number required to avoid forfeiting.
Injuries in the Gulls camp have been compounded by the absence of playing-coach Jed Lamb, who will likely miss the rest of the season.
Lamb suffered a shocking knee injury the week before against Traralgon. It is no exaggeration to say it looked like his left leg was going to snap off. Field umpire Mark Smith reported hearing the ‘pop’ from as far as 10 metres away.
Robbins sent his best wishes to Lamb, seeking him out before the game.
“I went over and said I was very sorry to see him injured, never want anyone injured in that way, especially players bringing excitement to the game like Jed does,” he said.
In a good sign, Lamb has implemented some character building traits with the Warragul team – players walked around picking up rubbish post-game after the crowd had left.
From a Maffra perspective, although the Eagles are currently second-last on the ladder, the next wave of youngsters has the chance to forge their own history.
Maffra still has some quality senior players in Daniel Bedggood, Kade Renooy and Danny Butcher, who have all tasted multiple senior premiership success, the likes of which Robbins said were now passing on their knowledge.
“It’s been quite exciting, we’ve had seven debutants, you think about how many wins we’ve had in the last 20 years, it’s a unique time for a lot of us,” he said.
“Those older guys are doing a great job of mixing in and educating those younger players, and I think it’s brought a bit of excitement back for some of them.
“It’s never easy when you are getting beaten easily, but we’re learning all the time, young players are learning and the old ones are working with them, we’re still enjoying what we’re doing.”
Moving forward, Robbins said the Eagles would be looking to remain competitive and pick up a few more wins on return from the bye.
“We’re always trying to win games of footy,” he said.
“In terms of possession and winning contested ball we’ve actually been quite good against those (top) sides, but clearly our ability to finish and probably connect with our forwards hasn’t been as good as we would have liked.
“That’s a work-in-progress with guys being able to operate in their skill at a level under the pressure you are going to come under against those sides. They’re not quite there yet, but they’ll get there, but certainly when we come up against sides that we think we work (well) against we certainly work hard to win.
“Every game we think we can have some impact. If you get things right enough for long enough, you can certainly put pressure on any side, but we’re realistic, we know some of those sides are going to have us for experience and depth.”
Maffra will back off their training load tonight, holding a recovery session and watching vision from the Warragul game, before going out for a team dinner.
The Eagles will surely be quietly hoping someone can knock off Leongatha at some stage during the season, to protect their cherished league record of 45 wins in a row.
Sale got back on the winners list.
The Magpies led from start to finish against Drouin, winning 16.13 (109) to 9.9 (63).
With Drouin having lost most of their games this season by a handful of points, there was some suggestion the Hawks weren’t that far off some of the finals contenders.
Such thoughts may have been extinguished at the weekend after Sale defeated them by 46 points.
The visitors dominated the opening term, putting up 5.8 (38) to 1.1 (7).
Sale added another five goals in the second term, and four in the third to make it a 39-point margin at the final change.
A bit of a stalemate ensued in the last, as both teams simply played out the game.
Kane Martin made a welcome return for the black-and-white, and was among the best players with three goals.
Joining the left-footer as his side’s most prominent was Shannen Lange, who also kicked three, while Hudson Holmes and Josh Butcher also played well.
Brothers Daine and Jonty McGuiness continued their strong form from the previous week.
Clayton Kingi kicked four goals for Drouin, and found good support from Kye Quirk, Jordan Kingi, Hugo Birks, Callum Tyler and Jarrod Marshall.
In an amazing statistic, Sale is seventh on the ladder by virtue of alphabetical order.
The Magpies share exactly the same points and percentage as Morwell, but have to make do with their current position through an absolute sheer anomaly.
Elsewhere, Traralgon got over Moe in a good contest at Ted Summerton Reserve.
The Maroons looked like running away with the match after kicking six goals to one in the second term, before the Lions hit back to only be 12 points down at the final change.
Traralgon full forward Brett Eddy was the difference in the end, kicking six goals as the visitors won 13.12 (90) to 11.9 (75).
Wonthaggi made the longest trip in Victorian country football a successful one, after easily accounting for Bairnsdale.
Only 14 points separated the sides at halftime, before the Power put the foot down, scoring 10 goals to one in the second half to win 18.21 (129) to 8.7 (55).
Leongatha took its winning streak up to 34 after defeating a persistent Morwell 11.18 (84) to 7.6 (48).
