Great Garnham grabs glory against Hawks

by Nicholas Duck
A 13-goal mega haul from Leongatha's Jenson Garnham brought Drouin's season to an unceremonious end on Saturday after they were belted by 82 points.
Garnham was in rare air past half time, destroying every defender Drouin sent his way to secure the league goalkicking award and consign the Hawks to a 10.13 (73) to 24.11 (155) defeat.
As it turned out he needed the big bag too – Lions forward Riley D'Arcy ended his day against Sale on 15 majors, falling just two short of the title.
From a Drouin perspective the Hawks showed solid fight across quarters two and four but were well destroyed in the other two terms, their backline struggling to contain the Parrots' potent power inside 50.
The Hawks were at least able to show off their ability to kick a score on their home deck – 10 goals against Leongatha is nothing to sneeze at and is a far cry from when they were held goalless against them a few years ago.
When you give up 24 going the other way though, including 13 to one player, you won't be winning many.
The Hawks' midfield trio of Brodie Atkins, Lane Ward and Seb Amoroso did everything they could at the coal face, battling bravely against the Parrots' vaunted engine room even as the scoreboard went against them.
Young Darcy Britt had his moments, as did more experienced pair Sam Pratt and Campbell Bedford.
While Garnham of course earned best on honours for the Parrots, backman Tim Sauvarin played a major role in quelling the Hawks' forays forward in an excellent performance.
Nick Argento was as smooth as ever while Luke Bowman and Fraser Phillips weren't afraid to get their hands dirty at the contest.
Crafty forward Zavier Lamers (three goals) ended up being Leongatha's second highest goalscorer.
Leongatha were off to the races early in the day, booting the first four goals of the match.
Thinks began when Justin Pellicano clunked one and from there it was like shelling peas. Fraser Phillips put up an early highlight, nailing a difficult shot running towards the boundary hard in the pocket.
Garnham also got his mammoth day underway, double grabbing a mark and kicking truly.
Lane Ward broke the run when he took advantage of a free kick and slotted his shot, only for the Parrots to cancel it out immediately when they charged out of the middle and Nick Argento got on the end of one.
The teams traded blows in a free flowing and entertaining second term, Drouin kicking five and Leongatha six.
Hawks forward Noah Lafrantz managed one of the goals of the season, bouncing it through from the boundary line to a genuine beauty.
The Parrots enjoyed their own highlight when debutant Frazer Livingstone perfectly checksided a set shot, sending his teammates into raptures as they congratulated him. While they didn't eat into the margin the Hawks could hold their heads high for the effort – until the third term rolled around.
The famed premiership quarter saw the Parrots put on their premiership prowess, slamming through seven unanswered majors as Garnham really got rolling, kicking most of them himself.
While Drouin again fought back in the last the sting had well and truly gone out of the game, the only mystery left being how many Garnham would get and whether it would be enough to see him win the league goalkicking.
The answers turned out to be 1) a lot, and 2) yes.
While a disappointing end to the year, there's been a lot of improvement from Drouin in the second half of the season.
The Hawks have gone from one win last year to four this season (albeit two of them being against Sale) and have plenty of young talent to build on come 2027.
With Kingi set to return as coach, time will tell if he can continue the climb with his young charges.