Strong fingertips and a last-ditch lunge from Gippsland’s Tom Muir help him hunt down Geelong defender Jakob Ryan in the Power’s five-point loss to the Falcons.
By Jarrod Potter
GIPPSLAND Power would be ruing its missed scoring opportunities, kicking five behinds in the fourth quarter to lose by five points to the Geelong Falcons.
Strongly contested all day, the match was fought mostly at the Legends Stand end of Visy Park, as windy conditions pushed the ball to that end of the ground.
With marking a problem in the conditions, it was a battle of the centre-half-backs as Geelong’s Andrew Boseley and Gippsland’s Sam Docherty made any forward-50 entrances to their respective ends a challenging prospect.
First-quarter bragging rights belonged to the Falcons, with their three goals countered only by some sharp work in front of goals from Tim Membrey to keep the margin to 14 points at quarter-time.
Power coach Adam Dowie sought a determined approach from his side and demanded they trust each other to get the ball out of defence.
“It’s probably a two-or-three-goal breeze, so running the ball will be hard,” Dowie said.
“Our mids are down there winning the ball and that’s great, but we’ve got no one to kick it to. We have to have faith in our backline.”
The workrate lifted for Gippsland with the wind at its back and the results were apparent on the scoreboard.
It sought to stretch the Geelong defence by running a three-tall forward line of Sean Marusic, Jack Doderico and Tim Membrey, with Matthew Willcocks also rotated through the goal square in his time away from the ruck.
This structure paid dividends as five unanswered goals, the highlight of which was a contested-mark-to-goal effort from Tom Muir, in the second quarter pushed the Power out to a 19-point lead into half-time.
Gippsland looked ready to run out the game strongly, but problems in its transition stopped any scoreboard movement. Docherty fought a solo battle in the backline, under siege regularly from the Geelong forwards Jai Sheahan and the forward-floating ruckman Cameron Tudor. To his credit, Docherty controlled the zone with ease, taking nine marks to plug most holes the Falcons created.
The problems with goalkicking started in the third, with Membrey and Jack Johnstone missing their chances in front of the uprights as Geelong returned fired with goal after goal. Geelong’s four goals squeezed the margin back to three points in favour of Gippsland at the final break. With the wind behind them in the fourth quarter, the expectation was Gippsland would kick away again like in the second.
This did not happen because the Power sprayed its chances and wasted opportunity throughout the fourth. Double-behind offenders Membrey, Muir, Nick Graham and Anthony Tipungwuti all failed to push Gippsland ahead of the Falcons.
Last-quarter goals to Edwards and a three-bounce-run-turned-goal from Boseley, putting Geelong five points ahead with a couple of minutes left. Marusic drew a free kick after the siren, 55 metres from goal, with a chance to win the match.
His kick failed to make the distance and with it, the Power fell five points short. Geelong’s Boseley and Tudor were best on field, with Boseley’s spoiling work on Willcocks and Doderico particularly pleasing to watch.
For the Power, Docherty stood out at centre-half-back. Haydn Hector was also prominent, taking 34 possessions for the afternoon.
The Power faces the Eastern Ranges at home on Sunday.
