GVL | Echuca repels fierce Mooroopna challenge

With momentum favouring Mooroopna at the main break, the Murray Bombers found another gear following an honest half-time assessment from co-coach Simon Maddox.

A trademark premiership-quarter fightback underlined an emphatic Echuca revival, with the Murray Bombers piling on seven goals to one in the third term.

An accurate Echuca then piled on the pain with five straight majors in the final term, with the Cats again only managing one, capping off a 54-point turnaround and a 14.6 (90) to 8.6 (54) win to the home side.

Maddox credited John Lamont’s young Mooroopna squad for stifling his side’s free-flowing game style in the first half, admitting an honest internal assessment was required at half-time.

“At half-time the chips were really down,” Maddox said.

“(The rooms) probably weren’t a good place to be in at half-time.

“Questions were asked: Why are we going away from the game plan, why are we running away from the game style?

“When we went back to it and we started playing for each other, the results were there.

“Credit where credit’s due, Mooroopna were excellent in the first half.”

With Echuca ruck Kane Morris missing, Mooroopna ruck Liam Betson lifted for his side in a hard battle against Liam Tenace.

Dom Gugliotti, Jack Hunt, and Ben Hicks all helped the Cats send a fright through the Murray Bombers’ camp, but it was Echuca’s experienced movers who lifted in the second half.

Andrew Walker found plenty of the ball in his side’s third-quarter revival, and forwards Ruory Kirkby and Will Monahan made the most of it down forward with several important goals.

Kirkby finished with five for the match, while at the other end, Cats spearhead Chris Nield could only find one for the day, largely nullified by opponent Aiden Mills.

Without Morris in the ruck and returning defender Cam Valentine a late out alongside in-form back Logan Prout, Maddox praised his experienced brigade.

“Obviously missing key personnel hurts; no Kane Morris, no Cam Valentine, no Logan Prout,” Maddox said.

“We were four goals down five minutes into the fourth quarter and I thought a few of our older blokes — Andrew (Walker), Ruory (Kirkby), and Ben Reid — lifted their game.

“They brought a few younger blokes along and we got our game style going.

“Toby Hore kicked a few big goals when we needed them, Jackson Stewart got a bit more game time and he really responded, he would have had about 25, 26 touches.

“All in all, a really good team effort.”

Echuca’s eighth win moves it a game clear at the top of the ladder following Mansfield’s defeat to Euroa.

The Murray Bombers now face three of the bottom four GVL sides in the coming rounds, with next week’s clash coming against Shepparton United (11th) at Deakin Reserve.

Mooroopna have now dropped to sixth, with a match-up against Shepparton Swans in round 10.

Around the league, Benalla broke through for its maiden win of 2022 with a 19-point triumph over the Swans.

Meanwhile, Seymour managed to close the gap on the top six to two games with a 31-point win over an undermanned Rochester.

A wayward Kyabram booted 15 behinds against Shepparton Bears, but it was enough to lift itself to an 11-point win.

In Mansfield, Euroa fired a warning shot to the rest of the competition with a 64-point win over the previously top-ranked Eagles.