Gippsland Times | TRARALGON has returned to the top of the Gippsland League in 2015, securing the senior premiership after accounting for Leongatha by 30 points on Saturday.
The Parrots may have finished the home-and-away season as minor premiers, but it was the third-placed Maroons who proved to be the best team throughout the month that counts. The eventual premiers went unbeaten throughout September, claiming their first premiership since 2011 with a 12.11 (83) to 7.11 (53) victory.
After missing the finals last year, 2015 turned out to be a glorious affair for the Maroons as they won their 20th Gippsland League premiership in front of a crowd of more than 5500 people at Traralgon.
From the early minutes of the game it was clear that the Maroons were not going to hand Beau Vernon a fairy tale end to his first season as Leongatha senior coach.
Fresh from a week off, the Maroons adapted to the sunny conditions of their home ground better, with Christian Buykx-Smith slotting the opening goal inside the first minute. That major set the tone for the opening term as Traralgon piled on five straight goals before Leongatha had registered a score.
Michael Burge kicked the second major of the match, before youngster Hayden Britten booted three consecutive goals to put the Parrots on the back foot.
Leongatha finally got on the board through Brent Fitzgerald, however it trailed by 27 points at the first change.
In similar fashion to a fortnight earlier, the Parrots had been dominated in the early stages of the match but slowly began to claw their way back into the contest. They got the first goal of the second term through Tas Clingan, before both sides missed a number of chances.
After being moved into the midfield following a quiet first term, Aaron Heppel ended the Parrots' goal drought with a hard fought major to bring the margin within three goals. That effort was followed minutes later by a major to Ashley Lynch and all of a sudden Leongatha trailed by just 13 points at the main break.
As both teams went into the rooms, Traralgon coach Mark Collison urged his troops to maintain a focus on their running game, while Vernon was encouraged by Leongatha's second quarter showing and urged them to continue to maintain their intensity.
And while they did so in the early stages, Leongatha's inability to convert opportunities into goals eventually proved its downfall. After consecutive misses at the other end, Traralgon transitioned the ball quickly into the hands of Britten who booted his fourth for the match.
Heppell again kept his side in the contest with his second goal minutes later, however the danger signs were evident for the Parrots as the Traralgon midfield of Tim Northe, Josh Jennings and Collison began to find space.
Collison and Jennings combined from a stoppage to score Traralgon's next major, with the Maroons coach breaking clear of the pack to snap around his body from almost 40 metres out.
Desperate not to go down without a fight Leongatha answered instantly, with Aaron Hillberg reducing the margin to 10 points just before three-quarter-time.
As it has all year, quick ball movement by the Maroons allowed them to break through the Leongatha defence and transition into forward 50 where club stalwart Michael Geary marked on the lead. Having announced his retirement on the cusp of the finals, Geary was desperate to finish his stellar career on a high and kicked truly from the set shot to give his side a 17-point buffer at the final break.
With everything on the line in the fourth quarter, neither side was willing to give an inch in the opening few minutes as tackles were laid and packs repeatedly formed.
It took another veteran to break the scoring drought, with midfielder Jennings sneaking forward to extend Traralgon's lead.
At the other end, the Parrots were their own worst enemy. They struggled to make the most of their forward forays until Hillberg booted a clutch set shot from in front of the Traralgon scoreboard.
While much of the focus in the lead-up to the match had been around the inspiring story of Leongatha's coach, Geary was determined to write his own fairy tale finish. With back-to-back majors, he extended Traralgon's lead to 30 points, and that was how it ended.
After a rollercoaster season, it was Collison who secured a premiership in his first year at the helm of the Maroons, and Vernon who was forced to console his visibly upset side.
Jennings was awarded the Stan Aitken Medal, while ruckman Ben Amberg received the AFL Victoria Country Medal for his tireless efforts around the ground.
Despite having been a step below Leongatha and Maffra for much of the season, the Maroons proved over the past four weeks that home-and-away form counts for little when September comes around. It seemed everything went right for the Maroons over the final month of the season as they totally dominated their opponents in each of their three finals victories.
With a young side at his disposal back-to-back premierships will be the goal for Collison, however that will be a distant thought in the coming days as the league's most successful club basks in the glory of yet another premiership.