Unsurprising results came the way for Sale and Maffra in Round 8 of the Gippsland League.

Contrasting travel and fortunes saw the Magpies win on the road, while the Eagles were defeated at home.

Sale took their lead inside the top-five on the ladder to an even four points.

The Magpies were half-a-game clear in fifth heading into the match at Western Park, but were able to break away from their nearest challenger after easily accounting for Warragul.

As expected, the visitors were never troubled, and used the mismatch as an opportunity to boost their percentage.

They did a very good job of that, taking their percentage from 82.84 to 101.77 after pumping the Gulls 19.11 (125) to 3.4 (22).

Sale kept Warragul scoreless in the first quarter, and went on their merry way from there.

A second term blitz saw the Magpies have 10 scoring shots from 16 entries as they piled on 7.3 (45) to 1.1 (7).

It was more of the same in the second half, as Sale kicked nine goals to two against an opposition that is well and truly facing a long, tough winter.

The unfortunate Gulls have already used close to 40 players this season, and one would expect the injury toll, as well as overall enthusiasm, will only get worse as the days get colder.

Brad Dessent kicked five goals in the win, while older brother Jordan played his first senior game for the season.

The former skipper capped off the return with two goals, with his first seeing 17 teammates running up to celebrate with him.

Another pair of brothers, Daine and Jonty McGuiness, also bobbed up for a pair of goals each, making it 11 goals for people with that surname (albeit with different spelling) in the Gippsland League for the round.

Jarrod Freeman kept the goals coming for Sale with four, and received good support from Jack McLaren, Daine McGuiness, Cooper Whitehill, Hudson Holmes, Jayden Allison and Nathan Whitford.

McLaren has been in some form, named in the best in every game bar one this season.

For Warragul, Riley Senini, Brad Hefford, James Davidson, Sean Masterson, Cooper Alger and Matt O’Halloran fought manfully.

Despite the one-sided nature of the contest, it must be remembered that 100-point victories are hard to achieve.

Sale assistant coach Daniel Sandeman said it was a solid performance.

“Fantastic effort by the boys, we set some goals defensively and offensively for what we wanted to achieve, and we achieved them,” he said.

“Our ball movement was much better this week, we focussed on our entries inside forward 50 (and got some good looks).”

Leongatha got back on the winner’s list.

Been a while since we’ve had to say that.

The Parrots were too strong for Maffra, winning 14.13 (97) to 4.7 (31).

Somewhat ironically, Leongatha faced the side whose league record it was on track to break up until the previous week.

The Parrots had won 34 games in a row before losing to Moe, falling some distance short of the Eagles’ 45 consecutive wins between 2003 and 2005.

Comments on the bush telegraph during the week about who was the better team may have fired up the Parrots, as they stamped their authority on the contest after halftime, kicking six goals to none to be runaway winners.

An interesting name appeared for Leongatha, with former Essendon player Noah Gown kicking four goals.

Gown was able to join the Parrots as his VFL club Sandringham (St Kilda’s affiliate) had the bye.

The union came about presumably through Gown’s friendship with Leongatha player Kim Drew. The pair having previously played together at Warragul.

While it is unknown whether this was a one-off game, one would think the Parrots will look to get Gown qualified for finals if the opportunity arises.

Leongatha defender Cade Maskell was best-on-ground for the second week in a row, giving further rise to his label as the Benjamin Button of the Gippsland League.

Like Chris Verboon before him, Maskell just seems to be getting better with age.

Joining the left-footer in the most prominent was Jack Hume, Tom Marriott, Aaron Turton, Jake van der Plight and Gown.

While beer is the common postgame refreshment for most country footballers, the sight of many Leongatha players drinking UDLs might explain why they spread so quick – they’ve probably got that much sugar in their system.

Alex Carr, Ben Brunt, Kade Renooy, Kieran Jones, Ed Carr and Brayden Monk tried hard for the Eagles.