Mitchell Wales and Echuca dominated Mooroopna around the midfield contest, an area the Cats typically come out on top. Photo: Rechelle Zammit
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Rechelle Zammit
Ahead of the game between Echuca and Mooroopna, we looked at the Cats’ dominance over the league in several ball-control statistics.
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In particular, Mooroopna was the best in the GVL when it came to disposals, disposal efficiency and ball-up clearances, while lurking near the top in contested possessions and overall clearances.
On Saturday Echuca blew Mooroopna out of the water in all those statistics.
The Murray Bombers had 398 disposals in the game, far ahead of the Cats 311, and a mark that would even put Mooroopna’s league-leading game average (378.7) to shame.
Similarly, Echuca forced the normally pinpoint Cats into error after error at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve.
While Mooroopna normally disposes of the ball at a tidy 74 per cent, against the Murray Bombers just 59 per cent of its disposals were finding teammates.
The Cats’ typically precise handballs (85 per cent) took a big hit, dropping to 74 per cent while their kicks were particularly wayward, less than half (49 per cent) finding their intended target.
Over the season, the two sides are neck and neck in clearances per contest, but on this occasion, Echuca dominated once again.
The Murray Bombers won the clearance count 66 to 40 and were plus-19 in ball-up clearances, an area where Mooroopna has held an edge over the rest of the GVL.
These type of statistics, and the final scoreline, were a little unexpected after the closeness of the team’s round three meeting, where Echuca got the win by just over two goals.
A mitigating factor was the absence of Coby McCarthy, the league leader in clearances and one of Mooroopna’s key pieces around the stoppage.
Fellow clearance beast Keelin Betson did his best to fill the void, putting up some huge numbers, including 33 disposals (32 contested), 13 clearances, 45 hit-outs and 10 intercept possessions, earning an eye-watering 201 ranking points for his performance.
However, Betson was forced to play a lone hand at the top of the ranking points charts for the Cats, with the next seven best earners all wearing green on the day.
Chief among them was usual suspect Jack McHale, who bettered Betson on the ground with 40 disposals (30 contested), 12 tackles and a massive 19 clearances.
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