When sizing up Echuca, there are so few chinks in its armour that only two sides — Shepparton and Tatura — have held the Murray Bombers goalless for a single quarter this season.
Benalla was unable to join the outliers on Saturday during a 19.9 (123) to 3.3 (27) defeat underpinned by a host of key outs for the Saints.
However, it only highlighted the importance of Josh Marchbank, who perhaps shouldn’t have played at all.
Benalla co-coach Will Martiniello noted the rangy ruckman entered the clash with a back injury, but after crunching the numbers it’s hard to believe Marchbank was hindered at all.
The Saints won the hit-out count 56-16, with 49 of those won by Benalla’s number 25, giving his on-ball brigade the first touch of the Sherrin on various occasions.
His skill as a tap ruckman has seen the Saints lead in hit outs during all six of their games in 2023, the smallest margin being plus-11.
Saturday’s effort took Marchbank to 288 hit outs for the season — far and away the most dominant performer in the statistic across the league.
“With the hit outs he’s getting it’s quite amazing what he’s doing for us,” Martiniello said.
“He probably shouldn’t have played on the weekend, but that’s who Josh Marchbank is — he fought through pain and made the trip down to Echuca for us and did a really good job.”
Stoppages efficiency is where Benalla had the better of Echuca, as it led each of the clearance categories bar ball-ups, with Marchbank again at the heart of the fight.
He also racked up an impressive nine contested possessions and seven clearances for the match, taking him to 101 ranking points — Benalla’s second highest achiever behind Tom Bennett on 107.
Marchbank’s supremacy in the ruck all season caught the eye of the Goulburn Valley League’s interleague selection panel, where he was named in the 34-man squad taking on the Ovens and Murray League this weekend.
Though the 200cm monster is set to miss the game through injury, his mentor Martiniello expressed just how crucial he had been for Benalla this year.
“He won’t be playing, he needs the week off with a sore back,” Martiniello said.
“It’s great for Josh to get recognised, I think he’s clearly the best ruckman in the competition and I think most teams and coaches would agree with that.”