Gippsland Power too strong for Jets

By Gavin Staindl
A DAMAGING first half on Sunday has given Gippsland Power its third win of the season and continued its unblemished TAC Cup record at home.
The Power defence gave up only one point in the first half and kicked seven goals of its own, as it stormed over the Western Jets to secure a 67-point win at the Morwell Football Ground.
Such was the dominance of the Power’s back half that for the opening 30 minutes, the Jets could not manufacture a disposal in their forward 50.
Gippsland’s intensity at the ball in the first quarter resulted in 20 tackles and four holding-the-ball decisions and set the stage for a convincing victory.
Even in the second quarter, the Jets’ only avenue to goal was from long-bombs around the 50-metre arc, which were gladly picked off by roving big man, Simon Deery.
Deery started the game in defence where his play-reading abilities allowed him to chop off many of the wishful shots at goal by the Jets’ forwards.
With the game in the bag, Deery, who was awarded best on ground, later moved to centre-half-forward where he snagged two late goals.
Shaun Marusic was used in a similar fashion. Marusic, who started the match as the Power’s centre-half-forward, moved to the backline in the second half where he was able to utilise his superior height and strength to stifle the Jets’ attack.
Power coach Adam Dowie admitted the winning margin could have been greater had he left players in their usual positions, but he said he wanted to try different things.
“We have some very versatile players and I thought the second half was a great opportunity to let Simon (Deery) go forward and give Shaun (Marusic) a shot at centre-half-back,” Dowie said.
“I was more interested in playing people in different spots, rather that making a bigger outcome on the match.”
Back-flankers Jack Johnstone and Josh Tynan were also influential.
Three weeks ago when Gippsland lost its only game of the season to Sandringham, many of the backline players found themselves drifting up the ground but on Sunday it appeared Dowie had rectified the problem.
“We come up against sides who push numbers up the ground and we would follow them then get caught on the counter-attack but on Sunday we stayed at home quite well,” Dowie said.
“We have been working pretty hard on knowing when to play off our opponents and knowing when to run into space or when to stay goal-side of an opponent.
“The likes of Deery, Tynan, Johnstone and (Sam) Docherty were all running the ball out of the backline and generating more inside 50s but knew to come back rather than hanging in the midfield.”
Gippsland now looks to string together three wins when it heads to Coburg on Sunday to take on the Northern Knights.