Drouin downed

by Nicholas Duck
It was another case of fighting hard in defeat for Drouin on Saturday as they succumbed to Maffra by 22 points.
Playing on the Hawks' speedy home deck, the goals flowed throughout the day as the home side were left to count the cost of coughing up red time goals.
The Hawks let through crucial goals at the end of the first and third terms, leaving themselves a fair hill to climb as they spent most of the day chasing.
Climbing that hill proved to be like climbing a mountain as the young Hawks were left to rue another missed chance, this time downed 14.15 (99) to 18.13 (121).
Outside of that it was a fair contest between two developing sides in a high-scoring and entertaining affair for the crowd.
Young gun Brodie Atkins again starred for Drouin in and under, putting his body on the line to try and will the maroon and gold over the line.
Ben Brasier played a strong game out on the wing, putting in several great individual efforts to keep Drouin flowing forward.
Blake Bibby found himself rolling forward in a new role and though he finished the day on one major, he racked up plenty of goal assists in a team-first performance.
Seb Amoroso fought like hell in the midfield and up forward as always while Peyton Saddington did an admirable job on Maffra key forward Seth Smith, keeping the imposingly big goalkicker to three for the day.
Will Young rounded out Drouin's better players on the wing, showing his defensive nous with several intercept efforts.
For Maffra it was Henry Anderson showing his stuff, driving the Eagles forward time and time again in a great all-around performance.
Max and Archer Stobie were both strong, as were Will Burgiel, Jett Killoran and Sam Anderson.
The Hawks were on the board almost immediately in the first term when the ball spilled straight into Brasier's waiting arms at full forward, letting him run into an open goal.
Max Stobie responded in turn the Eagles to get them rolling as they kicked three straight to open an early buffer.
Two great goals to Rylie Baker – the first a dribbler that rolled and bounced all the way and the second a wonderful snap off the pack – got Drouin back in business, but it would be Maffra who ended the quarter the stronger side as Seth Smith and Jack McQuillen booted the last two majors of the quarter in the final minutes
The Hawks were left ruing some wastefulness in front of goal, at one stage having 2.5 to 3.1.
The second term saw momentum changing wildly with the teams trading goals, sometimes straight from the centre clearance like when Amoroso got on the end of one immediately after Leo Stephenson put one through for the visitors.
At one stage Maffra broke 23 points clear and threatened to put the game beyond doubt, but late scores from Jack Walsh, Kaden Gregg and Baker ensured Drouin would head into the rooms only six points down.
By the time the third quarter came around, however, the Eagles began to make their opponents truly regret those early misses.
Smith clunked one on a lead before Stephenson got on the end of an elite end to end play, helping kick off a run of four straight for the visitors.
Jack Walsh was able to break the rot but as they had done in the first term, Maffra struck late to lead by 28 at the final change.
Maffra coach Hayden Burgiel was forced from the bench to begin the fourth quarter after a word with the umpires ended in him being shown a yellow card.
Needing the first of the final quarter the Hawks did their level best with early scoring shots but, having failed to capitalise, the Eagles whisked it away and put the nail in the coffin.
Drouin never gave in and scoring almost 100 without noted goalkicker Noah Lafrantz – who missed with delayed concussion symptoms – was admirable but it was another week of what might have been.
Drouin coach Jordan Kingi described the game as "a really good contest between two really young teams."
"The scoreboard doesn't indicate how competitive it was ... we did a lot right, we just at crucial times in the game let up a goal or two," he said.
"That's the really disappointing thing, it was a tight contest that could have gone either way. It's a game where we definitely did a lot right but did a little more wrong, which we'll work on. We were just chasing tail all day."
Drouin will travel to face reigning premiers Leongatha this Saturday.