Dominant.
That is the only word you can use to describe the play of Euroa’s forward line at the weekend, as it destroyed a depleted Tatura by 170 points.
Led by a seven-goal haul from spearhead Erish Uthayakumar, the performance without doubt put the rest of the Goulburn Valley League on notice, as they plan to quell the power of the Magpies attack.
With the power of GVL Data, we at The News took a deep dive into exactly what made Euroa click on its day out at Memorial Oval.
Dominating in all key aspects of the game, the Magpie attack was given every opportunity to fire, with their midfielders sending the ball inside 50 on a staggering 76 occasions.
But it’s one thing to get the ball down there, and another to make it count on the scoreboard, which is where the class of the Euroa forwards rose to the fore in scoring on 55 per cent of its entries.
At a glance
Erish Uthayakumar v Tatura in round 11
Goals: 7
Behinds: 2
Marks: 10
Marks inside 50: 6
Tackles: 5
Serving as the focal point, it was “Erish’s day” according to coach Scott Rowan, as he collected 20 disposals, took 10 marks (including six inside forward 50) and laid six tackles to go with his seven majors.
He wasn’t the only Euroa Magpie to have an impact around the sticks however, with live-wire small forward Jett Trotter adding four and Tristan Davies, Ben Bath and Jayden Gleeson all booting three.
And who were the ones pulling the strings behind these goals?
Well it was half-forward Lachlan Hill that led the way in score assists, helping his teammates on six occasions, while Davies was unselfish as ever, palming off four.
Operating like a well-oiled machine, the most remarkable stat of the day came from marks inside 50, as Euroa recorded a staggering 44 to Tatura’s nil.
This dominance isn’t anything new for the Magpies however, who sit on top of the tree in points scored this season, accumulating a cool 1121 points across their 10 games to date.
Key stats
Euroa’s forward dominance
Inside 50s: 76
Marks inside 50: 44
Scores per inside 50: 55%
Goals: 27
Behinds: 15
They also average the second most inside-50s per game at 50.4, and currently have three players in the top 10 GVL goal-kickers in Uthayakumar (20), Davies (20) and Trotter (19).
So looking at the numbers it’s clear that Euroa’s strength lies in its ability to score, and will be what the coaching staff will be relying on as it aims to break its 32-year premiership drought.