by Nicholas Duck
Too quick, too clean, too clinical.
Warragul's premiership dreams came crashing down in Saturday's preliminary final after they were handed a 69-point lesson by a slick Leongatha side.
After kicking the first goal of the day at Sale and looking up and about early the Gulls were made to pay for their mistakes as the Parrots piled on 12 of the next 14 goals before half time, building an unassailable 50-point lead at the main break.
The 8.9 (57) to 20.6 (126) loss was compounded by a litany of missed opportunities in the first quarter that kept Warragul from mounting any kind of real resistance to the Parrot onslaught.
Leongatha's potency up forward, combined with their defensive discipline completely shutting down the Gulls' run and gun style, meant the result was only ever going one way.
The Parrots will now gear up for an incredible 10th straight grand final against Moe this Saturday. They may be sweating on the availability of league leading goalkicker Jenson Garnham, however, after the forward ended the game on the bench with an iced up hamstring.
Jed Lamb was the lone Gull to kick multiple goals,booting five to end his finals campaign with an impressive 16 goals from three games. The club will have to learn to live life without him next year though, with Lamb set to return to his home club at Yarram.
Winners across the ground were otherwise tough to pick on a dirty day for Warragul, though young guns Xavier Olsson and Alby Phillips were bright lights thanks to their composure and relentless second and third efforts.
Ruck Sam Whibley battled manfully despite giving away a lot of height to Parrot big man Jack Sheridan while defenders Rhys Galvin and Sean Masterson competed hard at every contest.
Sheridan put in an extremely impressive performance to earn best on ground honours for Leongatha as he regularly gave his midfielders first use and helped them build an impressive ascendancy at centre clearances. Whibley is a difficult man to move in the ruck but Sheridan was more than up to the task.
Kim Drew and Aaron Heppell were a couple of those midfielders feasting on Sheridan's work, with Drew also playing parts of the game quelling Tom Hobbs' influence alongside Luke Bowman.
Defender Jackson Harry starred, as did Fraser Phillips up the other end with five goals – including the Parrots' first three of the day – as Justin Pellicano impressed with his aerial work inside 50 and as a back-up ruck.
Former Essendon captain Dyson Heppell also rates a mention, showing every bit of his 253 games of AFL experience in a classy effort off half back and in the midfield.
The Gulls came into the game as heavy underdogs but you might not have known it in the opening minutes of the game.
The pressure was hot and the Gulls had the ball living in their front half until Lamb struck the first blow, drawing back a lovely set shot on a challenging angle from near 50.
Phillips returned serve with a similar effort on his own set shot, shortly before he curled through a beauty on the wrong side for a left-footer.
Phillips wasn't done either, outmuscling Olsson one-on-one for his third goal in as many minutes.
Tom Hobbs had the chance to respond 25 out straight in front but flubbed his lines with his fellow co-captain Tom Stern also missing moments later.
That opened the door for Garnham, who continued the Parrot pounding as their midfielders dominated the stoppage battle in the middle of the ground .
Leongatha seemingly couldn't miss, to the point that the crowd let out an audible groan of surprise when a Dyson Heppell snap hit the post.
Warragul went into the second term needing a response and got one courtesy of a Leongatha turnover allowing Lamb to kick his second, but as before that only set the stage for another rush of green and gold goals.
The Parrots built a wall defensively, forcing the Gulls to go slow out of their backline and often hand it right back to them.
Warragul weren't helping their own case either as their players failed to spread and create options unlike their opposition.
Down 50 at half time the Gulls could do little to eat into the margin past half time, the game largely playing out as expected as Lamb at least filled his boots in his final game for the club.
Speaking post-game, Warragul coach Gary Ayres said it was a disappointing day.
"The game was built so much on ball use and method and once they got on top at centre bounce stoppage and how hard they ran to spread, I thought that caused us some real issues. They were nailing goals and we were missing ours," he said.
"It's a real deflating sort of feeling. I can't say my boys didn't try... but they absolutely showed us why they've been the best side in the competition for a very long time."
Ayres said the club would now focus on recruitment during the off-season, having been very quiet in that space last year.
"You've got to learn from the best and clearly we've got to go away and learn from what Leongatha and Moe have done," he said.
"Obviously from what Jed's done in the last couple of years and what he achieved, I wanted to build on what he's started and he's done a great job to get the group where they were last year. I think it's been a productive and a progressive season personally."
