Moama recruits star in big opening round win over Eagles

The story of the day for the Pies was the influence of their new recruits, with a number of the home side’s prized signings having a big say in the outcome.

Tom Holman, sporting long sleeves despite the warm weather, showed his class, patrolling the half-back line with aplomb and intercepting the ball at will, leaving the Eagles seemingly at a loss for how to advance the ball inside 50 at times.

Liam Barrett was able to impact the scoreboard, slotting two goals and looking dangerous with ball in hand, while Jordan McGregor looked pacy on the wing, also sneaking forward to snap a major.

Danny Brewster proved a handful at full-forward, kicking a game-high four goals, and Josh Kennedy looked assured in the defensive half.

Coach Sam Sheldon praised not only his new recruits but also the crop of young guns that stepped up in the win, but swiftly set his sights on the next challenge.

“They're all A-class players, and they're A-class blokes as well, so it's no coincidence as a club and side you go up a level,” he said.

“I also think some of our kids today were exceptional with their skill work.

“I know they (Echuca United) were … a bit down on personnel, but we still didn't really let them fire a shot at all, which was good, it didn't turn into a bit of an arm wrestle. We kept it all our way, held our width and played our style, so really impressive for a start.

“But we've got Rumba next week, which is again a bit of unknown as to what their side will be like, and then Deni the week following, and they have a fair list.

“It's all about building and that's the first step out of the way, so it's good.”

Led by skipper and reigning best-and-fairest Jack Russell, Moama was able to extract the ball from the stoppage and exploit the young Eagles on the outside with slick ball movement and speed.

The Pies managed to find space and time when switching the ball, while unafraid to pull the trigger on the kick inside, which paid dividends on the scoreboard.

“You get dictated by the opposition a fair bit as to how freely you can move the ball, and today the opportunities were there and we took them, which is good,” Sheldon said.

“But it's about being able to do that against a real quality side, which is what we're working towards.

“All sides want to get that nice switch and run up the guts, it's the quickest way to go and, yeah, we're trying to do that and it worked well today.”

There is still plenty of talent to come back into the Moama line-up too, a frightening prospect for opposition sides.

A number of the 22 from last year’s preliminary final are still to make their way back in the coming rounds, which will present a welcome headache for the coaching staff.

“It is nice to know that we've got a few good boys to come back in,” Sheldon said.

“But, I mean, the way the young boys are going, if they held their spot then, well, we're going to be strong in both sides, and that's a good thing as well.”

For Echuca United, the loss can be put down as a learning curve, with a large number of Eagles playing their first game for the club.

Returning coach Scott Beattie was not downcast despite the triple-figure margin, praising the effort of his players.

“They definitely gave a huge amount of effort, we just didn’t quite get everything right and they were a bit better than us,” he said.

“So (I’m) genuinely really happy with the effort. We’ve just got to tweak a few things.”

Beattie said the message following the game was largely positive and he was confident the side would only continue to improve in the coming weeks as the players shared more time together on the field.

“The difference today from when we played a practice match a couple of weeks ago was really good,” he said.

“It’s not measured on wins and losses, as much as it is, but we hit some marks today that we wanted to achieve, we just didn’t score.”