TRARALGON and Moe were the two standout teams in West Gippsland football this weekend after crushing wins against Drouin and Garfield.
In other games, Morwell suffered a shock loss to Sale and Leongatha came from behind to defeat Warragul.
There were also three reports at the weekend.
Warragul's Tim Keily was reported for allegedly striking Leongatha's Dwayne Holt and Garfield's Zeke Hower and Moe's Chris Hancock were reported by two field umpires for allegedly striking each other.
Traralgon vs Drouin
TRARALGON crushed Drouin by 110 points, just six points short of the record win in 1964.
It was the Maroons' highest ever score against the Hawks eclipsing the 19.17 scored in 2006.
Drouin was without coach Ben Soumilas who was out with a strained calf muscle.
The Hawks surprisingly decided to kick against the breeze in the first quarter and paid the penalty as the Maroons established a 28 point break.
The first half of the term was played at breakneck speed but the Hawks could not penetrate the strong Traralgon defence led by Tim Darby.
Traralgon's backline was reminiscent of the great sides of the 70s and 80s when they kept sides to miserly totals.
Both sides made a few mistakes but when the Hawks erred the Maroons quickly seized on them and made them pay.
Drouin scored the first goal of the second term but did not score a goal again until the 30 minute mark of the third term.
Traralgon's forward line was wide open and made it easy for Tim Aitken in one on one contests and ended the day with five goals.
Tom McQualter was great all day and was best on ground in a side that had plenty of good players.
Michael Geary was another quality player as was Steve Hazelman.
Michael Cooper took a great mark in the third term and came under notice as did Leigh Cummins, Tim Johnston and on-baller and backman Luke Middleton.
Sam McCulloch and Matt Jones were the only casualties with hamstring injuries but the good news for the Maroons was Ryan Potter should resume this week after recovering from an abductor injury.
Andy Soumilas was Drouin's best along with Daniel Barrand and Tom Crameri.
For Drouin to make the finals they need to play a more intelligent brand of football.
While the Hawks enthusiasm cannot be questioned they need to tone up their match plan.
Sale vs Morwell
MORWELL'S final five hopes took a nosedive after leading by 38 points at half time.
Sale eventually overcame the Tigers to run out 13 point winners.
Morwell coach Jason McFarlane was furious with his team's lack of endeavour after half time.
He said the loss was hard to take especially after leading comfortably at half time.
``It was not good footy after half time and our skill levels were down and this needs improvement,'' McFarlane said.
``We need to rectify a few things if we are to play finals football.''
Tigers scored the first goal of the third term to increase their lead but then the game fell into pieces as the Magpies slammed on 11 goals to two for the remainder of the match.
Brett Knowles was Morwell's best with more than 30 possessions and while Nathan Scurrah may have been out-rucked by Tom Sturgess, he was great around the ground.
Sale's Toby Leeds shut Tiger key forward Lachlan Dowling right out of the game.
In the vital fourth term Leeds, Luke Bates and Corey Scholtes were impassable at half back as they repelled every Morwell attack.
Nick Fowler played an improved game at the front for the Magpies and Justin McLay was a dangerous forward with his six goals.
Nick Welsh has played only two senior games for Sale this year and both have been against Morwell.
Thys Stanistreet kicked another four goals for the Tigers and Dean McDonald two.
Stanistreet was great in the first half but was on the wrong end of a few dubious decisions in the second.
Moe vs Garfield
MOE had a comfortable 99 point win over Garfield to consolidate top spot and increase its percentage by a healthy 11.29 per cent.
Troy Makepeace said Moe still has a lot of work to do despite the win and explained this to the players following the game.
In a best on ground performance, Matt Forys kicked eight to bring his goal tally to 47 for the season.
Adam Kennedy, Andrew Thorpe and Daniel Risol booted three each.
Other good players for the Lions were Symon Lee, Liam Carolan, Thorpe, Matt Dickason and Risol.
Newcomers Braden Robertson and Luke Thompson also showed promise.
Robertson got his chance after three good games in the reserves and 16-year-old Thompson just missed selection in the Victorian Country team.
Warragul vs Leongatha
AFTER leading by 21 points at half time, Warragul threw away a golden opportunity to get premiership points.
Leongatha eventually got the better of the Gulls to scrape home by eight points.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter