Demons down depleted Dusties
by
Warragul Industrials' limp to the finish line continued on Saturday as they were outdone by Koo wee rup away from home.
With scores level at half time in a tough grind of a match there was plenty to play for for a heavily depleted Dusties team.
In the end it was the Demons who had the better of the second half, kicking nine goals to the Dusties' three, including six to one in the last quarter, to run away with the match 12.11 (83) to 6.9 (45).
So down on numbers were the Dusties they had to call on club president Shane Ingham for his first senior match since 2021 after he'd already played a reserves game on the day.
That's hardly a crack at Ingham either – he managed to boot a goal during the loss and brought some leadership that they desperately needed.
Todd and Bailey Beck were best on for the visitors, cracking in any time the ball came their way.
Similarly, veterans Shane Brewster and Luke Walker were among the most effective Dusties' players with the first string Dusties midfielders asked to play heavy minutes with no rotations.
Youngsters Thomas Commadeur and Lachy Braybon played well, the former doing a solid job on Koo wee rup danger man Nathan Voss.
For Koo wee rup it was Timothy Miller leading from the front, along with Luke McMaster, Dale Alanis, Ethan McDonald, Thomas Glen and Bailey Galante.
The Demons are a tough contest team but have lacked that polish on the outside that separates the good teams from the rest.
Here, they were able to go with the Dusties at the coalface and, when their opposition tired, put them to the sword.
The Demons shared the love up forward with eight individual goalkickers, four of whom kicked two each.
Not helping Warragul Industrials' case was their discipline.
They gave away numerous 50-metre penalties and copped multiple yellow cards.
An early yellow card to Dusties ruck Malual Aleer ended his day prematurely, the youngster not seen on the field again after leaving the ground and forcing Nic Visser to play a secondary ruck role.
It's a stark contrast from the last time these sides played in round seven.
Then, the Dusties outclassed the Demons on their way to a 30-point win.
You'd only have to compare the team they were able to put out on that day compared to the one on Saturday to see a reason.
Names like Kuiy Jiath, Michael Debenham, Lachlan Bambridge and Matthew Herbert are just some that they dearly miss in what has turned into a fairly disastrous year numbers-wise.
Ingham was one of four players on Saturday forced to double up for the Dusties with Tom Cornwall, Rylan Butler and Campbell Gibbons having to play juniors beforehand.
Not hard to see why they would have run out petrol tickets.
With just two weeks remaining the Dusties don't have many more cards to play.
They're struggling with a poor hand and the deck is just about gone.
A season that began full of hope is a shadow of what it was and the club will need plenty of course correction if they are to make something out of 2025.
Bunyip’s Brandon Pompei (right) discusses a high contact free kick with the umpire.
Bursting forward from a stoppage in Saturday’s game is Bunyip’s Seth Ashton. Photographs by AMANDA EMARY.
One good quarter won't win you many games of footy, something Garfield found out on Saturday.
The Stars kicked just three goals – all during the second quarter - during their 3.7 (25) to 21.14 (140) thrashing to finals-bound Tooradin-Dalmore.
Impressively, they were able to outscore the Seagulls 3.2 to 2.4 for that term.
Not so impressively, they were handily beaten in the other three terms 0.5 to 19.10.
The visitors were simply no match for the might of the home side, struggling to get their hands on the footy and failing to use it effectively when they did win possession.
Jack Tenace-Greenall was a shining light for Garfield through the midfield, combining well with the likes of Jonty Bow and Josh Evans.
Tenace-Greenall has put together a very strong season for a young player in a struggling side and is a name to watch in years to come.
Angus Emery's move to half back was a solid one giving the Stars some desperately needed drive through the middle.
Aaron Marsh (two goals), Ben Tenace-Greenall and Noah Rogers were all also thereabouts on a day where it was tough going to be a Stars player.
It's no secret Garfield has been playing hurt for a lot of the year and with the end of the season in sight it's really taken a toll on the on-field output. If it wants to sell itself to prospective recruits in the off-season, however, it's that second quarter they'll want to show.
In that quarter they were able to put speed on the ball, cutting through the middle of the ground and opening the Seagulls up defensively to give their forwards a chance.
Outside of the second term it was the same old story though, the gulf in class between West Gippsland's higher and lower sides on display.
Barring a crazy turn of events the Seagulls will finish fifth and will be a real wildcard come finals given how good their best is.
Nicholas Lang, young Anthony Mirauta and big man Piva Wright booted four goals each showing the wealth of weaponry Tooradin-Dalmore possesses.
Trent Adams, Lewis Hill and Anthony Proctor rounded out their best.
Garfield co-coach Lachlan Schreurs lamented his side's efforts outside of the second term.
"It's so frustrating that we can be polar opposites from our best and our worst," he said. "That second quarter we were able to create handball receives and put speed on the ball. Other than that we couldn't touch it."
Garfield will face premiership hopeful Nar Nar Goon this week before finishing their season against Warragul Industrials the week after.
In other news, the Stars have locked in Drouin’s Eddie Morris as their coach for 2025.
A Garfield product, Morris has taken his talents all around Australia and will provide much-needed leadership and skill both on the field and off it.
Morris said he was excited to get stuck into his first proper senior coaching role and was keen to see the Stars’ young talent flourish.