On the right: Rumbalara's Desmond Tipuamantumirri unleashes a huge kick.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
A pair of impressive winning streaks have continued across the Murray Football League, while a premiership contender suffered a surprise defeat in startling circumstances at the weekend.
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Mulwala and Congupna carried on with their winning ways on Saturday afternoon, defeating Tocumwal and Echuca United, respectively.
A strong second quarter against the breeze was key for The Road as they prevailed over the Eagles by 52 points, 15.12 (102) to 7.8 (50).
“I was really impressed with the result in the end,” Congupna co-coach Ben Bingham said.
“Apart from the first 10 minutes of the first quarter and the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, I felt like we were in control of the play.
“We finished things off pretty strongly towards the end of the game. Our tackle pressure got things going, which we were really impressed with.
“It was a really impressive way to finish off our first block of eight games.”
Five goals to three in the first quarter at Echuca South Recreation Reserve had Congupna in front at the opening break, but the second term was where the most damage was done for The Road.
Usually kicking against the breeze is a disadvantage, but it this time it worked in Congupna’s favour as it booted 4.1 to United’s 0.3 to extend the margin to a decisive 35 points.
“We were kicking into the wind in the second quarter, our work rate just lifted a bit more,” Bingham said.
“We thought things would happen in the first quarter with the breeze, but we find that we are nearly a better team when kicking into the wind because it gets our running game happening.”
Spilt Sherrin: Rumbalara's Desmond Tipuamantumirri knocks the ball free from Nathalia's Bailey Bell.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Image 7 of 7
Handy work: Nathalia’s Gus Bramwell wins the tap.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Six goals to four sealed the deal for The Road as they earned their sixth straight win heading into their first bye of the year.
Congupna’s sole loss came in round two against league leader Mulwala, a result that Bingham said had a big impact on the playing group.
“That loss to Mulwala at the start, it kicked us into gear, really,” he said.
“It was a bit of a reality check and since then our work rate has really lifted. It stemmed from there.
“We have been playing pretty confident football lately, so I think we have earned the bye.”
Meanwhile, there was a huge upset along the Murray as Finley earned an astounding win over Moama in perplexing circumstances.
The Cats prevailed by 15 points against the Magies at Moama, with the home side’s startling inaccuracy costing it dearly.
The Pies had 21 scoring shots to Finley’s 16, but they could only muster three goals and 18 behinds as they slumped to their second defeat in a row.
Wayward accuracy in front of the big sticks is a worrying trend for Moama, which also kicked itself out of the contest against Congupna the week prior.
“I mean, we've been working on it at training, it's just something we've got to break,” Moama coach Sam Sheldon said.
“I don't know, to be honest, for some reason it's just not working for us at the moment, so we'll just continue to work on it. We'll turn it around.
“We outscored them in the second half, we just couldn't kick straight. Three straight kicks and we win the game, but we couldn't do it, so it's a hard one to cop.”
Cobram has moved ahead of the Magpies into fourth spot on the ladder thanks to its gritty 11-point win over Numurkah.
The Tigers handed the Blues their second defeat of the season, while also winning back-to-back games for the first time in 2023.
Nathalia had a thumping 154-point win over Rumbalara, while Barooga prevailed over Deniliquin by 13 points. Mulwala defeated Tocumwal by 135 points.
