GVL ǀ Gallery ǀ ‘Dominant’ Cats too strong for Bears in season opener

“It’s really good to put that bogey to rest,” Lamont said.

“It’s a really positive start.

“Last year we played the Bears twice and got beaten by a point twice and we were dominant both times in that we had around plus 20 on inside 50s, you get plus 20 on inside 50s you really shouldn’t get beaten.

“Overall, round one, long build-up, the way our guys went about it today I felt they were dominant for most of the game, defended really well, controlled Shepparton’s ability to score generally.”

A first-quarter blitz saw Mooroopna kick three unanswered goals, taking a solid 20 point lead into the first change.

The Cats extended the margin in the second term, kicking another four majors to see the lead surge to almost 40 points at half-time.

Lamont said considerable time spent in the Bears’ defensive half allowed them to firm up control of the game.

“Our time in the forward half at a guess would’ve been really strong, our defender positioning, a number of times we were really able to set our defence and rebuild pressure around the ball so when Shepparton have tried to exit their defensive half we’ve been able to swallow it up, rebound and go,’’ he said.

“We weren’t real efficient ourselves going forward but still scored 28 times, so yeah, round one win away from home — it’s really positive.”

A young Mooroopna brigade rising through the ranks has the Cats mentor excited to build on early momentum this season.

“I thought we had a very even contribution, but a few of our local boys, those that have come through together — Darcy Russell, Nathan Basile, Kai Madgwick, Isaac Dowling, Dom Gugliotti — that crew of young blokes, I was particularly pleased for them, they’ve played well and been a part of a win,” he said.

“We’ve got a couple of young guys that have never beaten Shepparton Bears.

“Some blokes haven’t had a win at Deakin Reserve, because they’e a young crew.

“The last few years have been tough and we got beat both times here last year, so there’s a few positives there we want to build on.”

For Bears coach Ted Lindon, an opening round loss wasn’t sounding alarms at Deakin Reserve.

“Clearly it’s not an ideal result, there’s plenty of areas of growth for us, I think we’ve come up against a good opposition today,” he said.

“Focusing on us, there’s plenty of upsides although the result is disappointing.”

Lindon said the Cats’ early heat put his side on the back foot in the opening stages, with much of the game played in the Bears’ back half.

“They jumped us and they had the breeze, but I feel like we had on par or even a bit better in terms of the flow game,” he said.

“We were just ineffective going forward and it broke down across half forward which makes it a bit of a dogfight.”

Despite the loss, the Bears mentor was pleased with individual showings from a number of his younger group.

“I think there’s plenty to work with, some of our young boys in Jed Warrin, Jacob Watts, Tyler Larkin who’s a bit older, there’s some individual highlights from the game that are pleasing; it’s not panic stations for us.”