Gulls short circuited by Power

by Nicholas Duck

Warragul will have plenty to ponder this week after suffering an intensely frustrating 18-point loss to Wonthaggi at home on Saturday.

Following an enterprising first quarter, things quickly fell apart for the Gulls, who became their own worst enemy thanks to a seemingly endless string of turnovers, missed shots and ill-discipline.

Much of that was caused by a dourly defensive masterclass from the visiting Power side, who kept the Gulls to just two goals after quarter time.
The 5.16 (46) to 10.4 (64) loss belied a solid start in which Warragul kicked the first three goals of the game to look in control.
Warragul were especially sloppy in their usually clean transition from half back as the pressure from the Power – both real and perceived – led to them constantly handing the ball back to their opponents.
Even when they did find shots inside 50 Warragul failed to finish off their work, making for a tough watch all around for fans in black and red.
While the home side had plenty of players who were far below their best, co-captain Tom Hobbs refused to die wondering, putting his body on the line as usual to be his side's best.
Backman Sean Masterson was in fine form in the first half before the Power began to avoid him entirely to great effect.
Liam Serong was solid rotating forward and through the ruck to cover Sam Whibley, who copped a one-game suspension during the week, while Jordan Stewart returned from his own suspension in a surprise role down back.
Kai MacLean and Tom Logan were other Gulls to show some nice signs on a day where the club didn't have a tonne of winners to choose from.
Wonthaggi were led from the front by their defensive unit, in particular Nathan Muratore, who played large parts of the day keeping the Gulls dangerous forwards like Jed Lamb quiet.
Jayden Burns, Ethan Dickison and Kyle Reid all racked up plenty of intercepts to create repeat opportunities for the visitors, while Joshua Bates and Cooper McInnes (five goals) were also excellent.
McInnes especially got off the chain as the game wore on, having none of the goalkicking yips Warragul were experiencing.
It was a different looking Gulls side early in the day as veteran Matt Gray lined up for his first senior game at Warragul since 2013 as the team's primary ruck.
With Jordan Stewart down back and the returning Rhys Galvin up forward it was safe to say coach Gary Ayres had thrown the magnets around to get a new look.
And in the first term it seemed to work as Warragul enjoyed the ascendancy in the territory game, giving themselves plenty of looks inside 50 even as they left a few goals out on the park.
A holding free to Hobbs got the Gulls rolling on the scoreboard more than 10 minutes into the game before some clever body work from Lamb doubled their lead.
A McInnes set shot swung late on the breeze and was called a behind much to the shock of the Power and their fans, who were feeling more miffed when a similar shot from Galvin was given the go-ahead on the stroke of quarter time.
The second quarter was a tough watch as defence became king and neither side could find a clean way through.
Set shot goals to Shannon Bray and Jaxon Foon were the only majors of the term as Wonthaggi crept closer by half time.
After the break it was clear the Gulls had a problem when Bates burst through traffic to nail the first of the half for Wonthaggi.
Constant misses from gettable shots put the Gulls under more pressure and their turnovers weren't helping.
The most unbelievable of their misses came from the usually reliable Hobbs, who marked on the behind line and ran out to snap, only to belly the ball and have it land 10 metres out from the Warragul goal.
Poor discipline had also found its way into Warragul's game as they gave away multiple 50-metre penalties to concede cheap scores.
Warragul finally found their first goal since quarter time when they overlapped to Liam Serong, who drilled it.
But when a Warragul defender tackled McInnes after a mark, the Wonthaggi forward was handed another 50 and put through a crushing blow on the three quarter time siren.
The Gulls had a chance to close the gap less than a minute into the last through Tom Stern, only for his shot to hit the woodwork before the Power went end to end and extend their lead as they marched on to a well-deserved victory.
Speaking post-game, Ayres said his side were playing too much as individuals in the second half.
"For a lot of the game today we were just doing some fundamental, basic errors and being undisciplined. It then contributed to them being thereabouts, our accuracy was not on song. So then of course once the third quarter started, momentum shifted pretty quickly," he said.
"That's not to take away anything from Tristan and his boys, because I thought they played a pretty professional brand of footy today. They were playing as a team and I thought today our play was more about individuals.
"They're one of the best intercepting and defending teams in the competition and I thought our connection with ball in hand was really off today."
Warragul will face Sale away after this weekend's bye.