The Gippsland League is set for a rematch of last year's grand final after Traralgon ran their way past Moe in Saturday's preliminary final.
Leongatha now awaits a chance for revenge over the reigning premiers, who put their pace to use to push past the Lions 13.16 (94) to 8.13 (61).
Traralgon were in front for the vast majority of the day, building an early lead before holding Moe at arm's length for the rest of the match, despite the Lions' best efforts.
The Maroons' speed with ball in hand has been a hallmark of their game for a while now and the expanses of Sale Oval saw them put it to use once again, outrunning and eventually overrunning their opposition.
The Lions were left wanting for leg speed throughout the afternoon, getting cut up on transition on several occasions as the Maroons' trademark slingshot worked wonders.
Perhaps the play that best summarised the match came in the second term when Moe superstar goalkicker Ben Crocker marked inside 50 and took a step off his line before changing his mind.
The umpire called play on, forcing him to try and chip it to coach Leigh Poholke in the square. Traralgon spoiled the mark and took off, overlapping and running the ball all the way to Mitchell Mustoe, who moved to the paint of 50 and unloaded a bomb that sailed home – a two-goal turnaround all in the space of 30 seconds.
Helping the Maroons capitalise on their chances and being named best on was Maroons forward Dylan Loprese (three goals), who easily outmuscled Moe's defenders in several key contests.
Midfielder Luis D'Angelo was at his ballwinning best, taking on the Lions engine room and winning the battle.
Liam Willaton, Sammy Hallyburton, Hugh Dunbar and Jordan Cunico were their other more impressive performers.
Traralgon built the win off a powerhouse first quarter in which they piled on five straight goals following Crocker kicking the opener.
Moe crept back to seven points at half time courtesy of a quickfire double to Leigh Poholke to end the second term only for regular programming to resume in the third, causing some Lions to drop their heads.
A well-earned victory now gives the Maroons a chance to defend their premiership this Saturday in another match against Leongatha.
Traralgon will need to recalibrate how they handle the match given their disappointing defeat to the Parrots earlier in the finals. Still, last year's decider had Leongatha as heavy favourites and we know how that turned out.
It's yet again back to the drawing board for Moe, who must truly hate Sale Oval by now.
They had the talent for this year and still fell short – can another off-season finally unlock the path towards a long-awaited drought breaker?
The club perhaps made their feelings on the game known on PlayHQ, where they didn't list any best players.
Unofficially their standouts included Chris Prowse in the ruck as well as Scott van Dyk, Myles Poholke, Riley Baldi and Nathan Scagliarini.
