Crucial clash awaits Eagles and Pies

For Moama, a side harbouring premiership hopes, a top-two finish will be crucial, and in order to get there, they need to keep winning games.

Consecutive losses against fellow flag aspirant Congupna and finals dark horse Finley looked to have put paid to any hopes the Magpies may have had of giving themselves a double chance in September.

But a gritty win over Cobram followed by a massive 201-point success over Rumbalara has the Pies back on track, with other results around the league going their way last weekend.

Kicking 11 goals in that win over Rumbalara was Tom Sheldon, who said the wins, in particular the one over Cobram, were hugely beneficial to kick-starting the team.

“It was good to get back on the winners’ list, we had a good win against Cobram which sort of got us going a bit which was good, and hopefully we will sort of keep ticking along for the rest of the year,” he said.

“We've got to basically win out to give ourselves a chance of top two, we need a lot of things to go our way and we need a few other teams to lose as well.

“We've just got to keep getting better, and if we can do that, we will give ourselves a chance at the end.”

In the space of two weeks, Moama has gone from being three games outside the top-two to now sitting in fourth, just one game back from second-placed Congupna, who faces reigning premier Mulwala tomorrow.

The importance of a double chance in the Murray league cannot be understated. You have to go all the way back to 2010 to find the last team to have won from outside the top-two, which coincidentally, was Moama.

With a win necessary to keep the top-two hunt alive, the Magpies will go in as favourites, however they will come up against an Echuca United side that has it all to play for as well.

Despite only having three wins on the board, the Eagles sit just two games out of the top six, intent on challenging the sides that sit above them.

A big win over Tocumwal last week means the young United side have levelled their wins tally from last season already, and continue to force good sides to earn victory against them.

“That was good to get back on the winners’ list,” Eagles coach Farran Priest said of the win over Tocumwal.

“We had a big block there where we thought we might be able to take some scalps on the way through, but we did challenge a lot of sides and that's what we want to do, is challenge those really top sides that are above us.”

And with the talk of rivalry and finals swirling, Priest is cutting a calm figure, placing the long-term growth of his side above a finals appearance.

“We don't want to put any more pressure on us,” he said.

“We want to make sure that every week we continue to try to get better, and we talk about trying to find growth within the group by being challenged. Every game, we're going to get challenged, and playing Moama, they're a good side.

“We talk about the importance of the rivalry and playing Moama, but again, we don't want to get too caught up in it all.

“As a young group, we want to make sure they're still putting the effort in and adding the pressure and the things that we're made up of.

“This week, as I said, it's just another game for us, but again, if we want to find growth, we've got to be challenging sides like this, and I reckon they'll be up for it again.”

The respective situations of both sides sets up a mouth-watering Three Jacks Trophy encounter at Moama Recreation Reserve tomorrow, with the first bounce at 2pm.