The Bears won four out of their last five matches, including victories over Seymour (which finished in second place) and Kyabram (grand finalist), but they also lost games to three out of the four bottom sides (Shepparton Swans, Shepparton United and Rochester) throughout the season.
After finishing the year on the precipice of finals (seventh), co-coaches Xavier Stevenson and Ted Lindon knew they didn’t have to stir the pot too much, but still, something had to be tweaked.
Heading into the 2024 season, Stevenson said the Bears wanted to create a more fluid and dynamic forward line mix and, based on their round one performance against Mansfield, that’s precisely what they have done.
Despite Shepparton’s sluggish start (Mansfield got out to a 35-13 lead at quarter-time), the Bears were able to claw their way back into the contest with Stevenson one of the catalysts as he finished with three goals while rotating in a midfield-forward mix.
“A lot of our forwards as a collective played really well,” he said.
“We are pretty dynamic forward of the footy now and it’s been a massive area that we have improved on from last year, which is great.
“We looked at that and it was probably an area that we identified that we needed to improve on and now forward of the footy, we have blokes like Trent Herbert, Joel Brett, Lewis McShane and some of our younger brigade as well and we have some resting mids up there, so it now looks a lot more fluid and dangerous.
“Lewis has been a really good player for us.
“He came from Cobram last year and he had a terrific season and he is just looking really at home.”
McShane was one of the Bears who stood up for his side when it mattered in the match-deciding third quarter when Shepparton took control of the game.
The 22-year-old mid-sized forward kicked the first two goals of the quarter (which gave Shepparton the lead for the first time), had seven touches (six effective) and took three marks to help swing the momentum back in the Bears’ favour.
The young gun finished the match with four goals, 19 disposals, six marks (two contested) and nine score involvements to finish in Shepparton’s best.
Meanwhile, fellow forwards Herbert (one goal, seven score involvements) and returning player Brett (eight score involvements, three marks inside 50) were also productive for the Bears in attack.
Shepparton’s midfielders that rotated through the forward line also worked to good effect, with Stevenson (six goal involvements), Adam De Cicco (three goal assists and six score involvements) and Luke Smith (one goal and four goal involvements) all active offensively.
In 2024, the Goulburn Valley League is looking the most even it has been in the past few years, with nearly all sides (aside from Echuca’s dominance) able to win on any given week, Shepparton will be hoping its new look fluid forward line can provide it with a point of difference for the season ahead.
One FM is calling the Euroa v Tatura game on Saturday from 1.30pm and the Murchison-Toolamba v Nagambie clash on Sunday at 2pm.
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