The highly anticipated clash between two Goulburn Valley titans in Echuca and Kyabram delivered another win for the Murray Bombers, who continued the perfect start to their premiership defence with a 13.5 (83) to 8.14 (62) victory.
While mostly even across the board, Echuca won the contested possession count 140 to 133, the hard-ball gets 53 to 36 and was plus-44 in total disposals.
The men in green also dominated the clearances, where they were plus-12 for the match. They led the centre clearances 13 to nine, and dominated around the ground, leading ball-up and throw-in clearances 30 to 22.
Echuca also outscored Kyabram from turnover, piling on 9.4 (58) to 5.10 (40), despite turning the ball over 88 times to Kyabram’s 76.
Echuca recorded 44 pressure acts to Kyabram’s 12, but Kyabram laid 73 tackles compared to Echuca’s 60, evening up the total pressure rating slightly, although Echuca was still plus-eight for the match (109 to 117).
While Kyabram did have significantly fewer disposals (279 to 323), it also used the ball far less efficiently than Echuca did, going at 56 per cent, while the Murray Bombers disposed of the footy at 67 per cent.
Echuca entered its forward 50 an astonishing 55 times, scoring from 32 per cent of entries, while Kyabram mustered only 44 entries, yet proved much more effective, scoring 50 per cent of the time it entered. The teams were relatively even when marking inside 50, Kyabram (five) recording just one less than Echuca (six).
How they compare
Echuca - 43 clearances (13 centre, 30 stoppage), 140 contested possessions, 53 hard-ball gets, 44 pressure acts, 60 tackles, 67% disposal efficiency, 55 inside 50s.
Kyabram - 31 clearances (9 centre, 22 stoppage), 133 contested possessions, 36 hard-ball gets, 12 pressure acts, 73 tackles, 56% disposal efficiency, 44 inside 50s.