By Jarrod Potter
TAC CUP – ELIMINATION FINAL
POWERED down by errant kicking and the relentless run of their opponents, Gippsland bowed out of the TAC Cup finals at the first hurdle after a 7.6 (48) to 19.12 (126) beating by Oakleigh.
After a neck and neck first term – only barely claimed by Oakleigh – the floodgates opened through the second stanza.
All tenacity and endeavour evaporated in the second quarter as Gippsland ran around without intent.
While the gallant Gippsland rebound work kept Oakleigh on their toes, nothing the Power could muster up forward was worthwhile or able to apply any significant scoreboard pressure.
Attack was there, but the rest failed to eventuate through the first half as Gippsland turned it over time-and-time again to give Oakleigh far too many rebound goals after spraying the ball in the defensive end.
A two-point deficit soon stretched to 33 at the main break as the Power were left to switch up tactics to stand any chance of continuing its 2015 season.
A third term fightback had the Power move back within striking distance.Excelling in his last TAC Cup match, Bunyip’s Tom Papley (five goals) held together the Gippsland forward half as the wily small forward wowed the crowd with some phenomenal ground work and textbook overheard marking to reel back the gap to under five goals at the last change.
But it would be GIppsland’s last huddle of the season.After the Power booted the first of the final term, giving Papley one last chance to pump his arms and celebrate in his usual exuberant style, from there on it was one-way traffic as Chargers lived up to their moniker and charged away with a nine-goal quarter to take the 78-point thumping.Coach Leigh Brown was pleased with his side’s attack on the footy, but rued the missed opportunities up forward that plagued any chance of the Power progressing to the semi-finals.
“Our transition running wasn’t great and we just got away from some of the team things that we’ve been doing well,” Brown said. “I thought our pressure was really good, but unfortunately we didn’t take those opportunities at the start of the second quarter, which really hurt as they went down and kicked a couple of goals.
“I thought we had some good guys on the day – Papley was good, Buykx-Smith was really good down at full back, Will Leslie was good as a bottom ager, Nick Mulqueen as well.
“We certainly got enough of the footy, just couldn’t finish off in the forward line.”
Also impressing were Josh Patullo, Pakenham’s Todd Beck and hard-nut defender Christian Buykx-Smith.Looking across 2015 – with Vic Country representatives and All Australian nominees in the line-up – Brown thought there was plenty of upside to year as a whole.All eyes at Gippsland now shift to the National and State Combines ahead of this year’s draft as a number of players – including Pakenham’s Matthew de Bruin – are set feature in the testing events.
“Heaps of positives – we played some good footy throughout the year, especially the last couple of months.
“To have nine blokes play Vic Country and represent us at that level was excellent. Benny Ainsworth All-Australia, Harry McKay was probably close and now we’ve got another eight going to the combine – over national and state – it’s a good sign and we’ll hold high hopes for when draft time comes around.”
In another strong showing of for future Gippsland football, its 16 and 17 year olds worked their way into the line-up and held their own at the TAC Cup level, making next year’s side a tantalising prospect.
“Mulqueen, Leslie, Renooy and Ainsworth and played a heap of footy as bottom agers, Jai Rout and Anthony Young had a taste over the last few weeks and Nathan Voss has done some similar stuff as well,” Brown said. “We’ve got some good 16 year olds coming through to really complement the 17 year olds which will be top age next year.”
TAC CUP
OAKLEIGH 2.3 7.8 10.10 19.12 (126)
GIPPSLAND 2.1 2.5 6.5 7.6 (48)
OAKLEIGH CHARGERS Goals: B. Crocker 4, T. Phillips 4, P. Kerr 3, D. Johnstone 2, V. Adduci 2, C. Lane, L. Walker, S. McLarty, T. Duman. Best: L. Byrne-Jones, M. Wenn, K. Answerth, P. Phillips, D. Beddison, D. Cuningham.
GIPPSLAND POWER Goals: T. Papley 5, T. Hobbs, B. Ainsworth. Best: T. Papley, J. Patullo, T. Beck, C. Buykx-Smith, T. Hillier, B. Dessent.
