Lakes Entrance was the first football side to progress to the East Gippsland Football Netball League grand final, relatively easy winners over Lindenow in the thirds’ qualifying final at the Bairnsdale City Oval
last Saturday.
Late majors and some poor kicking at goal in windy conditions by Lakes Entrance saw the final margin of 12 points flatter the Cats who were blown away in the third quarter by the slick and smooth-skilled Seagulls.
In contrast, Lindenow was unable to pick the ball up cleanly, constantly reverting to paddling it along to get a
clean handle.
The Seagulls dominated the first term, but went to the first change with only a five-point advantage after Lindenow’s Jarrell Hood (two goals) converted on his side’s limited forays inside 50.
Charlie Graham (two) kicked a nice crumbing goal for the Seagulls early before they racked up five behinds, some of them poor misses from close range, Riley Jenkins, Bill Prior and Graham among the culprits.
Prior and George Ioakim were starring for the Seagulls, while Thomas Faithfull was working in defence for the Cats to propel the constant entries.
Prior, in his first year of football, impressed with his lightning speed, showing why he is a highly-rated junior soccer player.
After blowing chances with the breeze, the Seagulls had to work twice as hard against
it to maintain the lead; with great accuracy they were actually able to lengthen the lead to 13 points.
Oscar Hopkins slotted one through early after Ioakim burst through the middle and hit him lace out. The competitive and hard-running Ioakim was causing major problems as a half back flanker for Lindenow.
Thomas Graham was taking the game right up to league best and fairest winner Titus Harrison in the ruck, giving
Prior and Harper Davis first use of the ball. Both enjoy nothing better than streaming from clearances with the ball in hand after being cleverly targeted by Thomas Graham.
A solo effort from Prior saw his side go 17 points in front, redeeming himself for another chance where he was going too quick to kick it.
Both sides tended to overuse the handball in the windy conditions, but it was Lindenow who paid the price, giving up easy turnovers more often.
A Hine goal close to half time, after playing on from 50 metres, brought the margin back to 13 points; a reward for a quarter where they defended grimly.
The Seagulls made their move in the third stanza with the wind, kicking 3.8 to 1.1, strengthening their advantage in a match where goals were hard to kick.
Charlie Graham kicked his second early as a result of an Ioakim run that included five bounces, the forward snapping cleverly around his body.
The breeze certainly strengthened in the third term as the Seagulls dominated play, the Cats making limited sojourns forward, Prior continuing to be a burst player, creating opportunities while Ioakim moved closer to goal to use his long kicking skills on numerous entries.
The Cats defended stoutly, but were continually kicking under pressure and finding an unmanned Lakes Entrance opponent on the exit, as Harrison and Baxter Bennett and Thomas Graham, marked uncontested and bombarded the ball back inside 50 where Charlie Graham and Xavier Pepper always looked dangerous.
Faithfull and Xavier Cook were leading the way across half back, though the latter was in the wars and was getting plenty of
assistance from the diligent
Cats trainers.
An Ioakim snap with three minutes to go made the difference 29 points as he moved closer to goal as the quarter concluded.
Three missed late chances made the margin a very difficult 32 points.
Thomas Graham continued to dominate the ruck contests early in the final term, though his opponent did get into the game, Harrison’s long snap gave the Cats a sniff; the margin back to 26 points with 16 minutes left.
Lindenow continued to push the ball forward for the breeze at their back, where Brayden Meyer, Davis, Ioakim and Harrison Bennett defended stoically for Lakes Entrance.
Malakai Hood-Marks had a chance but went to ground. It was a familiar story – he struggled to keep his feet under pressure all day.
They were stiff not to get a 50-metre penalty after a holding the ball free kick with eight minutes to go as they continued to press for a miracle victory.
Hood broke a run of three behinds with a late goal to make it 18 points, followed by another to Kaian Ritchie, reducing it to two goals, but the siren beat any serious challenge as the Seagulls took the foot off the gas and the Cats played their best and most productive football.
Best for the Seagulls were, Ioakim, Thomas Graham, Baxter Bennett, Prior, Davis, Jenkins and Isaac Zagami.
While for the Cats, Faithfull and Cook led the way, with solid efforts from Oliver Simpson, Hine, Hood and Kade Musselwhite.
The Cats will do battle with reigning premier Orbost Snowy Rovers at the Bairnsdale City Oval this week in the preliminary final, heartened by the fact that they were a mile off their best but still got close at the finish. The reality was the scoreboard made them look much better than they were.
