Shepp News |
The prettiest victories aren’t always the ones which please coaches most.
There were holes in Goulburn Valley Football League ladder-leader Tatura’s 16-point home victory over Mooroopna on Saturday.
The Bulldogs charged a game-high 41 points clear midway through the third term on the back of four consecutive goals — starting from late in the second quarter — but conceded the next five to the resurgent Cats.
But a sniff was all Tatura gave the visitors.
Kane Boyer missed a straightforward set shot at the 13-minute mark of the final term that could have brought Mooroopna within six points, only for Bulldogs speedster Brendon Hollow to dribble through a steadier at the other end.
The Cats never got closer than 11 points thereafter.
Tatura coach Scott Grigg, who was as animated as he has been all season at three-quarter time, was delighted his players stood up when required after leading by just 10 points at the last break.
‘‘They’re the wins you want, against quality teams, and when you guts it out like we did then, when we were challenged,’’ Grigg said.
‘‘At least you can sit at home afterwards and think, ‘When we were challenged, we had the mental aptitude to stand up and make good decisions under pressure’.
‘‘We had a five-week period when we played teams in the bottom half of the ladder and it’s mentally hard to challenge yourself to do the right things all the time, because you know you’re going to win the game.’’
The result was a blow to Mooroopna’s finals chances.
Second-placed Kyabram did Blake Campbell’s Cats a favour, kicking the last seven goals to pip Mooroopna’s finals rival Shepparton Swans by eight points.
But the Cats, who have a 50-50 win-loss record, slipped to eighth and may need to win four of their last six contests, including a round 17 date with the Swans, to qualify for the post-season.
‘‘I still see massive improvement in us, but there comes a time when we have to actually put it out on the ground,’’ Campbell said.
‘‘It’s a funny one. I don’t like assessing a game until I’ve watched a DVD of it during the week, because you can pick the eyes out of things a little bit.
‘‘But we were either really bad or really good — we didn’t have that in between. I still thought we were in the game and that we’re as good as these sides on our day.’’
It wasn’t just the start of the third quarter that Mooroopna went missing.
The Cats coughed up the match’s first six scoring shots — four of them goals — before Rob Osborne eventually responded with back-to-back majors at the 16 and 20-minute marks of the opening term, respectively.
They struggled to contain the Bulldogs’ run, with Rian McGough, Billy Hicks and Hollow the most damaging.
Champion Tatura ruckman Paul Kirby’s absence due to a leg infection mattered little, despite his side coming up against Mooroopna’s reigning Morrison medallist Mark Blake.
Daniel Flynn performed admirably in Kirby’s place. Athletic Bulldog Ben Waite also proved a handful in attack.
Tom Durward, with plenty of help, shut Cats forward Daniel Lewis down and forced Campbell to put the latter in a roaming role behind the football.
Lewis had a greater impact after that, but the likes of James Marks and fellow big ball-winner Mitch Keddell were most pivotal in the third-quarter fightback.
Pat O’Sullivan bobbed up with a pair of majors and suddenly there was life in Mooroopna before coach Grigg’s three-quarter time reinforcement of his defence-before-attack philosophy did the trick.
Cats captain Chris Schirmer, who was Waite’s second opponent behind Joe Sullivan, left the game for good in the second term with a jarred thumb.
Jye Warren (bruised hip) was a late withdrawal for Tatura.
