Mooroopna has officially been dethroned as king of its domain.
It has taken until late July for the Cats to lose on their home deck, with Saturday’s humbling at the hands of Echuca displaying the consummate gulf in ability between the Goulburn Valley League’s first and fourth ranked powers at the moment.
But hey, that’s just Echuca for you.
The Murray Bombers exploded after quarter-time to claim a 14.20 (104) 7.5 (47) triumph, but it wasn’t the only bragging right to materialise on the day.
All season Mooroopna has been a disposal monster.
A GVL side boasting the freakish dish-off capabilities of a Nick Daicos-Caleb Serong-Lachie Whitfield hybrid, no matter what happened, the Cats could say they moved the ball the best.
But not any more — technically speaking, that is.
Following Saturday’s 57-point victory at the Cattery, Echuca now leads the way in total disposals with 5003, with Mooroopna relegated to second place with 4923.
There is a caveat and that is where the technicality comes into play.
Mooroopna has played one less game than Echuca and still leads the line regarding disposal per-game averages with 378.7 to the Murray Bombers’ 357.4.
The weekend’s win was just enough to tip the reigning premier over the ‘touch’ line.
Examining the stats sheet from the match, a whole lot of Echuca green outbalances Mooroopna red in most categories including clearances (66-40), inside 50s (65-32) and overall pressure (154-145).
Betson v McHale - head to head
Disposals
Betson: 33
McHale: 40
Clearances
Betson: 13
McHale: 19
Ground ball gets
Betson: 12
McHale: 16
Ranking points
Betson: 201
McHale: 185
The Cats led in rebound 50s 51-20 and back 50 tackles 26-5, indicating John Lamont’s side spent a fair chunk of time trying to break out of its defensive arc as Echuca sent wave after wave crashing at the hosts’ gates.
However, Mooroopna still had plenty of the ball and it was largely due to contested beast Keelin Betson.
It’s no surprise the Cats’ ruckman has a surname that is a direct anagram of ‘best on’, as he is usually right around the mark when it comes to top performers.
His game against Echuca was no different.
Betson racked up 33 possessions, of which a frankly stupid 32 were contested, while also tallying 13 clearances and 45 hit-outs.
It landed him a juicy 201 ranking points, 16 clear of the next best in Echuca’s Jack McHale.
On any other day, McHale would’ve been first and daylight second as he finished with 40 disposals (30 contested), 19 clearances, 12 tackles and 11 score involvements.
The gun Echuca mid may have lost the battle to Betson, but his side won the war.