Gallery: Shepparton East A-grade mentor pleased with ‘adaptable’ and ‘versatile’ outfit

Beaton, a former Goulburn Valley League midcourter at Tatura, was a standout in the third term as she led from the front with her superb intercept and passing skills.

Shepparton East’s lead of nine goals at the main break ballooned out to 16 by the start of the fourth term in a performance that rubber stamped its 13th win of the Kyabram District League season.

Beaton’s stellar role through the midcourt has given Hueston another ace up her sleeve come finals.

And it was a move that has been in the works according to Hueston.

“Jess made a significant change to the game when she came into there (centre),” Hueston said post-match.

“It was a move that we had thought about for some time and then we thought ‘well, let’s give it a go’.

“When we became a defender down we’ve mainly played her in defence, but we’ve wanted to try new things and this is a move that we wanted to try coming into finals and it worked.

“I thought it was quite a competitive game and I don’t think the scoreline truly reflected the competitiveness.

“We thought it was a good chance to try a lot of new things. We’re learning to be adaptable to change and today we showed how versatile we are as a side with the amount of changes we made.

“I think the second half we were able to break the game open. We need to be adaptable and unpredictable.”

Shepparton East fired on all cylinders and scored 17 goals in both the first and second quarters, while Nagambie managed to keep within single digits at the main break.

The goaling trio of Kali Frost, Maddison Newey and versatile Kara Pattison continues to strengthen.

All three had a run through the goaling end and look to have formed a dangerous combination.

At the other end of the court, Claire Doherty locked down Nagambie’s attackers when moved to goal keeper and excelled with her rebounding, while fellow defender Sarah Maskell performed strongly on Nagambie star Sharni Lloyd.

“The rotations are working and it doesn’t matter who we have in there, our goaling circle is combining well and it changes things up and it keeps the defence second guessing,” Hueston said.

“I thought Claire made a real impact in goal keeper in the second half, I felt her and Sarah did a fantastic job.

“Bec (Rendina) did a really good job in wing defence in that third quarter and then to be able to bring on Sophie Lewis from our under-17s side helps gives us more depth as well.”

Around the courts, Dookie United remains in second spot following a convincing 60-34 win over Stanhope and Tallygaroopna muscled past Lancaster 38-19.

Violet Town holds on to sixth spot by two points thanks to its 67-59 win over Undera, while Merrigum kept its finals hopes alive with a 36-31 win against Murchison-Toolamba.

Avenel got the job done over Rushworth 51-22, while Girgarre and Longwood met on Sunday.