Echuca faces Shepparton Swans on Saturday, and the Murray Bombers’ second half against Kyabram may point to an ominous trend in the run home to finals.
Echuca’s dominance in nearly every facet of the top-of-the-table clash had the Murray Bombers strengthen their premiership credentials at the weekend.
Kyabram was well-positioned to mount a serious case as the next team, behind Seymour, that could challenge Echuca for the Goulburn Valley League title before the round 13 contest.
And that may still be the case, but the performance on Saturday has knocked those hopes for six.
Kyabram ran with the reigning premier for the first half and led by two points at the main break, yet a blistering second-half romp had the Murray Bombers run out a 37-point winner.
Second-half blitz
Inside-50s
Echuca: 35
Kyabram: 10
Clearances
Echuca: 24
Kyabram: 13
Marks inside 50
Echuca: 11
Kyabram: 2
“Everything we spoke about during the week came to fruition in the second half,” Echuca co-coach Sam Reid said after the match.
Echuca smashed Kyabram around the stoppages and won clearances 24-13 after the main break.
That allowed the Murray Bombers to get more looks forward and the home side tallied up a blistering 35-10 inside-50 entries.
In the last quarter Kyabram coughed up 18 turnovers which resulted in 4.2 (26) scoring opportunities for Echuca.
To follow on from scoring opportunities, Echuca smashed its scores-from-inside-50-marks total from round two against Kyabram.
The Murray Bombers posted 8.0 (48) from marks inside 50 compared to 3.2 (20) earlier in the year.
Kyabram was not able to dominate with its intercept marking and managed 15 for the match, down on its per-game average of 19.5.
But it wasn’t all downhill skiing for Echuca in the hotly-anticipated clash.
Kyabram had high efficiencies in the first term and posted 45 per cent scoring efficiency to 28 per cent in the first quarter.
The Bombers also managed 54 per cent in the second term which was a game high.
Surprisingly, Kyabram managed to use the ball better and posted an overall total disposal efficiency of 72 per cent compared to Echuca’s 66 per cent.
No doubt Kyabram coach Paul Newman will watch the tape closely on that second-half performance, but the Bombers’ mentor will still have found some positives to take away from the match.