The Cats prevailed 7.7 (49) to 5.9 (39) in wet and windy High Country conditions on Saturday, however, the side lost key forward Chris Nield to a broken arm midway through the second quarter.
Though it poses a serious question as to who will fill the role heading towards finals coach John Lamont labelled the victory “really pleasing” given the circumstances.
“For the Mooroopna people ... they want to see their team throwing themselves into the contest and they did,” Lamont said.
“Get tackled, smashed into the ground, tackle other blokes, get an accidental knee in the guts and go again, slipping over and blokes crashing in, it was that sort of last man standing affair.
“I spoke in those terms for the people that came into the rooms and made the trip to watch, that’s what they want to see.
“We’ve come away very happy with the win. Bar the Nield injury, it was a good day.”
Anticipating the cold and wet, that’s precisely what the Cats got from the off.
The score was indicative of the trifling conditions with neither side able to slot the first goal until the final minutes of the first quarter.
Mansfield’s Cam Arnold laid a crunching tackle on Will Bella inside the goal square, the ball spilling to Lachan Murphy-Dale who hooked one over his shoulder and through.
Mooroopna continued to swing, but was fighting a losing battle with Arnold and Sam Thomson adding more to the lead in the second quarter.
Goals to Daniel Johnstone and Nield dragged the Cats closer, but the hammer blow came as Nield went down clutching his arm not long after slotting his first and only major of the day.
The third term is where Lamont’s side began to break back into the game.
Darcy Russell and Liam Betson pulled the Cats into a slim lead, but it was like splitting hairs heading into the last as Ben Christopher pegged one back for the host.
A fourth-quarter barrage sunk Mansfield with Mooroopna conjuring three quick goals to kill the match, meaning Harry Mahoney’s finish on the run late on counted for little.
The Cats bossed the tackle count 82-57, but wavered in inside 50s -8, meaning the side’s pressure was vital towards securing the win.
Lamont made sure to pay heavy respect to Mansfield’s “deep midfield stocks”, including the likes of Murphy-Dale, Mahoney, Thomson, Jayden Howes, Frazer Dale and Patrick Marks.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Mansfield’s midfield group ... if we shied away from it they would have got on top, but they didn’t,” he said.
“It’s (Bryce) Rutherford, the Betson brothers, Jed Woods, those boys, you’ve just got to keep stepping up.”
Lamont also went on to relay his admiration for Mooroopna’s resilience after losing a focal point in Nield, noting his troops were no shrinking violets in the face of a hard ask.
“We’ve got some experienced players, but our bottom end is young and you think ‘does an injury like that put a bit of a tremor through the group’, but it didn’t,” he said.
“They were resolute, they really (put in) repeat efforts, tackling, smothering and the stuff you want to see.
“Footy gets pretty basic sometimes in those conditions and I felt we kept at it and took a couple of chances in the last quarter.”
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