Rumbalara continues to be the chased in Murray Netball League action — but so far, nobody is capable of catching the Shepparton-based outfit.
The Rumba girls have maintained a perfect record through seven rounds of the 2024 campaign, keeping the rest of the competition at arm’s length thus far.
Rumbalara always stood to benefit from bringing highly credentialed goaler Jess Bamblett back to the side, and the ladder-leaders remained firing on all cylinders against Mulwala.
Action flowed freely between the arcs in the early going, with the Lions a step or two off the pace, but undoubtedly in the contest at the first change, trailing by seven.
A second quarter that can only be described as barnstorming soon followed at the hands of Rumbalara, with the visitors piling on 17 goals to two in a tremendous display.
Truth be told, the second term was the only point where Mulwala looked totally down and out; the Lions nearly evened out in the third term and actually won the final quarter with the contest long gone.
The result was seemingly decided from half-time onwards though, as Rumbalara went seven from seven in a handy 61-38 victory on the road.
Mulwala has its back against the wall after a tough result at home, coming in evenly poised but leaving in the negative with a 3-4 record.
Rumbalara possesses a comfortable gap on top, with only Tongala sitting a game back after seven rounds.
Tongala moved to 6-1 in a slightly less comfortable manner after an eight-goal advantage in the first term narrowed to five by half-time away at Cobram.
Strong first and third terms saw Tongala through, retaining outright second on the ladder by prevailing 52-39 on the road.
Nathalia had the chance to stay in lock-step when it welcomed fellow contender Moama to town, but never truly got out of the gates under Magpie pressure.
Put simply, offence ruled the day for the visitors as four double-digit quarters handily overcame four single-digit quarters out of the Purples. The result was as simple as that, Moama walked out 54-27 winners.
The result levelled both teams’ records at 5-2 as Moama sought to reinstate itself among the competition’s upper crust.
The five-win tales continued further north when Finley and Numurkah collided.
What has been a difficult season in Numurkah for senior football and A-grade netball continued as such, with the Cats stymieing the Blues at every turn, waltzing to a 60-31 triumph.
Finley joins the Purples and Magpies at 20 points, as the leading pack starts to break away in pursuit of Rumbalara.
In a genuine tussle for all 60 minutes, two sides on the periphery collided on the courts of Memorial Oval, with Deniliquin Rams barely squeaking away with the points over Congupna.
Though the Rams led at every change on the day, the margin never exceeded seven goals at any one break as the New South Wales outfit’s fourth win of the year came hard-earned, 50-44.
Down the bottom of the table, Echuca United finally produced a long-awaited triumph in a meeting with fellow winless outfit Barooga.
It came anything but easily in a pressure-filled first half, but the Eagles delivered down the stretch at Echuca South Recreation Reserve to savour an eventually straightforward 45-27 win.