Mooroopna lifted when it needed to most in a miraculous upset of Echuca on Saturday, and GVL Data confirms the Cats’ work at the coalface helped seal a dramatic finals berth.
Echuca’s trademark third-quarter blitz, a trump card in the club’s 16-game unbeaten run this season, never came against the Cats, with the Murray Bombers instead conceding in the clearances despite Kane Morris’s ruck ascendancy.
Mooroopna won the clearance count 10-4 in both the second and third terms, but a superior contested possession count in the third, 34-26 Mooroopna’s way, proved decisive in an area Echuca dominated in the first quarter (40-23).
But with a seven-point lead at three-quarter time and the game there to be won, the Cats were scintillating.
Mooroopna won the disposal count (75-55), uncontested possession (44-26), marks (23-9) and tackles (18-9) in the fourth quarter to seal victory.
Key for the Cats was none other than 20-year-old Ethan Hunt, who gathered a game-high 10 clearances and 15 contested possessions from his 28 disposals, a timely performance.
Jack McHale lodged a typically strong contested football game with a game-high 18 possessions coming contested from his 25 disposals, while Andrew Walker and Riley Smith were also prominent.
Echuca versus Mooroopna, round 18
283 Disposals 291
49 Tackles 65
131 Contested Possessions 122
70 Marks 89
51 Inside 50s 38
Top performers
Ethan Hunt (Mooroopna): 28 disposals, 15 contested possessions, 10 clearances, 12 tackles
Chris Nield (Mooroopna): 6.1, 13 disposals, five marks
Jack McHale (Echuca): 25 disposals, 18 contested possessions, eight clearances
Will Monahan (Echuca): 21 disposals, 3.0, 15 uncontested possessions