Power hits the switch

By Justin Robertson
IT was a successful trip north to the goldfields of Ballarat for the Gippsland Power.
The team now has strung together three consecutive wins, the latest at the expense of the North Ballarat Rebels by 27 points at the Eureka Stadium on Saturday. Power coach Damian Carroll was beaming after the win.
“Yeah, it was a good win, we were very happy with that,” he said. “Obviously, getting three in a row is pretty important and coming away with the points against Ballarat was really pleasing.”
Kicking into a stiff wind, Carroll said he was overjoyed with the players’ effort to quarter-time, keeping the Rebels to 5.1 while mustering up 3.2 themselves.
“We were quite rapt with our first and third quarters against the breeze. We just had to try and stay in the game and not let them get too far out with the wind,” he said.
“They went in at quarter-time a couple of goals up, but we were happy we kicked three goals into the breeze.”
The Power hit back in the second term, booting 4.3 to 1.1 to take a nine-point lead into half-time. In an even third quarter, both sides kicked four goals, but the Power clung on to its one-goal advantage going into the final quarter.
With the wind at its back, the Power broke the game open with 4.4 to 1.1 and won its seventh game for the season.
“It was great to finish off the way we did,” Carroll said. Over the four quarters we were really happy with the effort, apart from a couple of times we let ourselves down with skills, but our pressure was good and we’ve consolidated our spot.”
Livewire forward Dean MacDonald had a day out, kicking six goals and eclipsing his previous best bag of four.
“He was fantastic, it was his best game for the club,” Carroll said.
“He played a big game for us and he has had a consistent season, but seems to be putting it all together at this time of year … and that’s great for us.
“It was important for Dean to finish his season off well to give himself a chance to get drafted and he’s certainly doing that.”
Power captain Dyson Heppell was a ball magnet, racking up 34 touches and was again among the best.
“His last three or four weeks have been really good,” Carroll said. “He was the major possession winner on the day, used the ball well and played like a captain should – he led from the front.”
Four weeks ago, when Vic Country’s Dyson Heppell, Jed Lamb, Tim Northe and Tom Bugg returned to the Power, Carroll said he’d hoped they would fit back into the side to play helpful team roles. After the weekend’s game, Carroll was over the moon with how they had slotted back in.
“They’ve been fantastic,” he said. “They’ve come back fresh and certainly they’ve been playing good footy – Northe was good over the weekend, so too Lamb – we’ll just look at coming together as team for the last two weeks before finals.”