Earlier this week Euroa’s Andrew Bell was highlighted by GVL Data — deservedly — but Mansfield took the chocolates on a day worth studying further.
The Eagles were in a groove around the goals, to put it one way, putting sharpshooters across the league to shame in a lethal offensive display worth 21.5 (131).
That wasn’t the only anomaly on display during Saturday’s affair in the high country, though, on a bizarre afternoon.
Mansfield’s efficient outing v Euroa, summarised
Inside 50s: 41-65
Contested possessions: 140-191
Clearances: 45-57
Tackles inside forward 50: 2-19
Total ground ball gets: 94-139
The numbers you see aren’t written backwards by accident — Mansfield was on the losing end of every single one of these statistics.
The Eagles — who, again, produced 21 goals on the day — did so from less than two-thirds the forward entries of their adversaries, whose goals per inside 50 came out to a paltry 20 per cent from their bevy of chances.
Euroa was first to the ball far more often than not at ground level, shovelling it out more rapidly and laying literally almost 10 times the tackle pressure around its goals.
How, then, did things transpire the way they did on the scoreboard?
The foundation for Mansfield’s efficiency came from a relentless pressure system in the back half — namely, an almighty 25 tackles laid inside defensive 50 for a total of 44 inside Euroa’s arc between both teams.
In contrast, Mansfield only allowed Euroa six tackles inside the Eagles’ territory. How, you ask?
The simple answer: total control of the entries they did actually get.
The Eagles racked up a stunning stack around the big sticks from the marks they claimed inside 50, registering 10.0 (60) from this source with four goals coming from deep entries and six from shallow targets.
Midfield turnovers are always a juicy and critical method of scoring points, but accruing a bigger number that way (8.1) than what the Magpies could muster from turnovers anywhere on the ground all day (6.4) was especially telling.
Then there were the individual stars of the show — none shining brighter than Brett Mahoney.
It was an even-keeled effort around the ground with 12 contested touches, five inside 50s and five rebound 50s, well rewarded with a goal.
Billy Hogan and playing coach Jack Hutchins were each significant contributors to Mansfield’s ruthless offensive, combining for 13 marks inside the arc and 16 goal involvements, each sitting beside Mahoney in the top three for the latter stat on the day.
It was a game that ultimately didn’t feed into Mansfield’s top six aspirations with finals hopes extinguished prior to the weekend, but it will give Hutchins’ side plenty to build on with aspirations of ensuring its status as September spectators was a one-off.