THE top five now looks set in concrete.

This was when fifth-placed Morwell beat Leongatha to open up a three-game break over the sixth-placed Drouin after the Hawks, despite a valiant effort, went down to Warragul on Sunday.

Close but not close enough was the story of the day for Garfield in the match of round between the two top teams.

Sale had to withstand a last-quarter revival by the Stars that saw them trim a 29-point three-quarter-time deficit to only two on the final siren.

Sale has now moved into outright first place on the ladder, but Garfield sent out an ominous warning that a premiership in 2007 is well within its reach.

Sale jumped Garfield early and with impetus from midfielders Corey Scholtes, Russell McAdam, Jacob Schuback and fine ruck work by Chris Kelf, the Magpies looked in the box seat at the last break.

In the last term, the Stars blue-collar work ethic came to the fore and with goals by Beau Runnalls, Matt Cunningham, Dean McFarlane and Ben Soumilas it crept close enough to steal victory.

Sale had to repel wave after wave of attacks and in the end its defence led by Ryan DeVisser, Tom Hughes and Shane Fyfe deserve plenty of credit for holding on.

For the Stars, dual league best-and-fairest Andy Soumilas and Ryan Munro won plenty of the ball, Nick Marsh did well to eclipse Magpie goalsneak Brenton Martin and Brent McFarlane did equally well to keep Chris Aurisch, the league leading goal scorer in 2006 from getting his name on the goal sheet.

The match whets the appetite for the next time the two will inevitably meet come finals time.

Gulls down gritty Hawks

ON Sunday Warragul battled hard to see off a persistent Drouin by 16 points.

Drouin led by 11 points at the main break and a good deal of a see-sawing third term, but the Gulls with late third-quarter goals by Bryce Monahan and David Scott-Smith took the lead just before three-quarter time and managed to hang on in the last quarter.

The Hawks pecked away in the last term and a Gull victory wasn’t sealed until Scott Carey drilled through a long goal with only minutes left on the clock.

Warragul’s drive was led by its hard working midfield of Ryan Davey, ruckman Matt Gray and Des Barr.

Nick Edney rebounded the ball out of defence well, Brendan Sheehan had a tremendous duel with Glen Browney, with the honours split evenly and Joel Morgan nullified Hawk playmaker Malcom Dow.

The most salient sign for the Gulls was the performance of Bryce Monahan, in only his second game for the season, who pulled in some strong marks and steered home three vital goals.

Drouin’s effort was excellent, it simply refused to roll over and the Gulls had to earn every kick.

The Hawk defence comprising Damian Carmody, Jordan Edwards, Chris Wallace, Ren Wyatt and David Olsen was outstanding and midfield Daniel Barrand pumped the ball forward regularly.

Bobby McCallum did well in the ruck and posed a big threat around the big sticks snagging two goals and Todd Cook did well to blanket Gull assistant coach Leigh Sheehan.

Eagles claw for victory

MAFFRA had to work hard to put away Traralgon by 33 points.

The Eagles were never seriously threatened, but struggled to convert its superior possession into a match-winning lead for a large part of the game.

Plenty of good things came out of the game from a Maffra perspective.

Firstly, powerhouse ruckman Justin Bramich returned for his first game of the season and bagged three goals, despite being well short of match fitness.

Secondly the performance of the Eagles youngsters was superb and showed they were quickly coming to grips with the rigours of senior football.

For example wingman Sam Walker and Jed Costigan, half-backs David Adams and Kelvin Porter and ruckman Owen Booth, all offered good drive and played with confidence that belied their experience.

Despite another loss, Traralgon can also take heart that it had a red-hot go.

Regular fringe dweller Matt Jones came into the side and excelled, taking 15 marks in defence and thirds’ captain Mark Collison showed plenty of pluck from his wing position for the third consecutive week.

Quick left-footer Danny Campbell was busy around the packs and Michael Burge pulled in many marks that defied his size.

Ryan Potter went head to head with Eagle gun Gary Jones with honours evenly spread.

Tigers down persistent Parrots

MORWELL registered a 42-point victory over Leongatha.

The match was far more even than the scores suggested, as it took the Tigers until the third quarter to shrug off a pesky Parrot effort.

A seven-goal haul by agile utility Ryan Allen set the teams apart.

Morwell midfielders Jim Dowling, Jeff Ryan, Joel Soutar and Julian Blackford, the latter who took countless marks across half-back, all used the ball far more effectively and Michael J. Duncan provided stout defence.

For Leongatha, Adam Govers, ruckman Mark Bradley, Marc Truscio and Dom Davis all enjoyed productive games.

Parrot forward Aden Harris looked dangerous and capped off a fine game with three goals and Dean McCaughan put in a stellar effort deep in defence.

There was a lot to like about Leongatha’s effort, as it scored the first three goals in the last quarter to give itself a sniff of victory before it ran out of gas.