PREMIUM
GVL Data

GVL Data | The numbers behind Mooroopna’s stunning Echuca upset

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Hot footy: Echuca’s Gus Byrne and Mooroopna’s Jack Johnston battle. Photo: Aydin Payne

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