Records tumble in gargantuan Gulls win

by Nicholas Duck
There's a scene in the Looney Tunes movie Space Jam where the villainous Monstars are piling on points so quickly against the Tune Squad in their basketball game that their side of the scoreboard eventually changes to read 'kinda one-sided isn't it?'
It might have been a joke but the scoreboard at Western Park may as well have read the same by 5pm Sunday as Warragul launched an absolute massacre on a hapless Sale side, shattering all sorts of records to rack up a whopping 182-point win.
Outside of some brief moments of resistance it was an absolute procession for the home side, who were utterly ruthless with and without ball in hand and eventually walked away winners 33.23 (221) to 6.3 (39) to move to 3-0.
It was a record-smashing day for the home side, who easily eclipsed their previous highest score against Sale (183) and largest margin (88).
Making it all the more impressive was the fact they did it without the likes of Jed Lamb (unavailable), Liam Serong (VFL Young Guns), Rhys Galvin (VFL) and Patrick Mulqueen (soreness).
Fifteen different Warragul players all kicked a goal during the obliteration, led by co-captains Tom Stern (five) and Tom Hobbs (four).
It didn't stop there either, with key forward Jordan Stewart and young gun Cameron Thompson also contributing four each.
It was one of those days where the goal umpires were spending half the day very bored.
Hobbs himself was putting up some genuine video game numbers. Whether it was bursting from the middle, linking up in a chain or finishing the work up forward, he was everywhere in a best on ground performance.
It felt only fitting that he was the one to push the Gulls' score past the 200 barrier when he got on the end of yet another sweeping Warragul play to thump it through from point blank.
That kind of easy play really was the story of the day. Past quarter time Warragul did as they pleased.
The Gulls won the ball cleanly out of stoppages, shrugged tackles, ran hard and generally treated the Magpies with impunity.
When Sale did get the ball more often than not they were handing it straight back, watching as Warragul would rack up yet another scoring opportunity.
While Hobbs was Warragul's top performers everyone had their moments. Up and coming midfielder Riley Senini was another, combining beautifully with Hobbs to whisk the ball out of the centre time and time again.
Former captain Brad Hefford exemplified the team first mentality Warragul had while highly talented youngsters Levi Moore, Sam Grummisch and Lucas Carter got plenty of the footy.
This is the kind of game that's been a long time coming for Gulls fans. Some supporters at Western Park have sat through their team being on the opposite side of the result and would no doubt be delighted to see their team utterly slaughter a team that was in the senior grand final just four years ago.
As public as some of Sale's issues have been it was still a little shocking to see just how outmatched they really were against a side like Warragul.
Outside of a more positive first quarter the Magpies had no answers despite some solid efforts from the likes of Thomas Wrigglesworth, Finn Wilson, Mason Annear, Tyson House, Kaden McCulloch and Benjamin Hall.
Surprisingly, they actually held the lead eight minutes in when Mason Annear (two goals) and Brad Dessent went back to back.
The Gulls would quickly level proceedings before taking the lead through a beauty from Heath Jinks under pressure, and from there didn't look back.
Warragul continually got the ball out of the middle far too easily, pushing forward with little pressure and finding teammates in space.
Stern provided a highlight in the second term when he brought the ball to ground against two opponents, collected his own crumb and nailed the shot on the run.
Sale's day after quarter time was perhaps best summed up by a play in the third term where a Sale defender under no pressure kicked it 15 metres straight to Stern, who promptly put it back over his head.
Even ruck Sam Whibley got in on the action, enjoying some time up forward in the last with two majors.
The good vibes continued into the rooms at Western Park, where Warragul included a number of their junior players in the team song.
Coach Gary Ayres was understandably very happy.
"I thought early on Sale were playing a smart brand of footy. Their ability to change lanes and hit up short, honour the lead with a bit of speed put our boys on their heels a bit," he said.
"They were moving the ball end to end a couple of times. Once we got a hold of that I thought we were much better at turning the ball over. And once we turned the ball over we were able to score quite heavily.
"I thought pretty much everyone had a time where they impacted. That was pleasing."
Warragul will travel to Bairndale this Saturday hoping to improve to 4-0.