THE Murray Football League stormed back into the Victorian Country Championships top-10 rankings with a 64-point victory against Bellarine at Tocumwal on Saturday.
With the league desperate to hit back after last year’s debacle against Sunraysia, coach Scott Beattie picked a side loaded with pace and it showed on the scoreboard as his team ran rings around its opponents on the spacious ground.
Cobram’s John Lucas and Echuca United’s Farran Priest were outstanding with four goals each, while Ash Morris, Ryan Prendergast and Ryan Bongetti also made strong contributions.
“We are ninth now in the rankings and that’s a real bonus for us,” Beattie said,
“It was a real focus.
“We wanted to get back into the top 10 and our realistic aim is to get to five or six.
“We took a line in the sand approach with commitment and getting back to enjoying ourselves and I think it really showed in this performance.”
Murray kicked the first goal of the match and never looked back as Lucas, Priest and Kaine Greening dominated play around the packs and were instrumental in the host league leading by 23 points at quarter-time.
On the other hand, Bellarine relied too heavily on dangerous small forward Tim Clark who finished with 6.7.
Beattie said Murray picked its side based on running players.
“We wanted to use our home ground advantage as much as we could and I thought our side covered the ground really well,” he said.
“They are used to a lot smaller grounds.
“I thought our running play was a real factor.”
The only injury concern to come out of the clash was a hamstring injury to Duane Hueston who spent the final term on the bench.
