Mansfield has made finishing strong a hallmark of its game this season, but Saturday showed the Eagles can also bolt out of the blocks with the best of them.
Chad Owens’ side kicked 7.4 in the opening term against Shepparton, bursting away to a 34-point advantage which was able to be sustained for the majority of the contest at Mansfield Recreation Reserve.
Owens himself made a point of congratulating his side on its rampant start, saying it set the platform for a 17.12 (114) to 10.11 (71) victory.
“We identified that Shepp Bears have been slow starters the last few weeks, so it was important to get off to a good start because their last three quarters are normally pretty much even,” he said.
“Tommy McDonagh got us going in the middle, I thought our mids - the two Dale brothers (Lachlan and Frazer), Brett Mahoney and Mitch White - were really prominent and gave us good opportunities to score early which they were able to do.”
After falling well short in the first quarter, the Bears awoke from their slumber and outscored Mansfield by a goal in the following exchange.
Lewis McShane began firing for the visitors and, though close, Shepparton would repeat the feat to win the third quarter.
But when facing Mansfield, at home, in the final term, a kitchen sink is only half the artillery you’ll need to get over the line – and Shepparton failed to oblige.
The Eagles kicked 5.0 to the Bears’ 2.4 to whisk the rug from beneath the travellers, cementing their fourth win of the campaign and remain inside the top six.
“We were really happy with the result; we’re still not consistent across four quarters yet, but we’re doing a lot of things right at the moment which is good,” Owens said.
“It’s these five to 10-minute lapses during the game which sort of hurt us, we get a couple of goals in front and then it looks like we put the cue in the rack.
“We end up doing some things we shouldn’t do, and then ‘oh sh*t, they’ve kicked a couple of goals’ and then we tune back in again.
“When we’ve got the ascendancy, we’ve got to keep it and when you’re not going that great, just don’t let it cost us so many goals - that’s what we’re working on at the moment.”
Shepparton’s McShane managed five goals during the loss, earning him best afield honours for his side, while young Matt Whitlock debuted for the Bears.
Mansfield star on-baller Lachlan Murphy-Dale was a force up forward after switching from the midfield to also jag a five-goal bag, supported well by Ben Christopher with four.
“Lachie played as a mid, spent a bit of time forward and kicked five goals which was a nice reward,” Owens said.
“He’d been thereabouts and you could tell he was about to have a game where he was going to kick a few goals, you just didn’t know when - he’s a class player.”
This weekend’s interleague bye was welcomed with open arms by Owens, as he expects to have Patty Marks, Cam Arnold, Will Chiller and James Herridge back for round seven selection.