Dazzling Nathalia under the bright lights of Jack Eddy Oval on Friday night, Echuca put in the consummate team performance to square away a 50-point win, 10.5 (65) to 2.3 (15).
Echuca's victory marked its second from as many games and brought about Nathalia's first loss of the season to ensure the Murray Bombers remain at the top of the table.
Coming back from a bye in round two, coach Damien Dalziel said he was happy with his team's progress despite the stop-start nature to the first half of the season.
“We didn’t know what to expect over the first few rounds so it’s good to get a couple of wins early,” he said.
With a physical contest whittling Echuca’s bench down to its bones in the face of injuries, Dalziel said each person in the team stood up in the face of adversity.
“Once we got out of that bash and crash, it became a free-flowing game and we were able to score goals,” he said.
“It was a very physical game, but the players really stood up to it. Everyone did exactly what was asked of them. It was a complete four-quarter effort.”
The NCWL season will go on a short hiatus over the Easter holidays, with Echuca’s next game not until Sunday, April 11 when it hosts Mooroopna at Vic Park from 2.30 pm.
With the scars of that 2019 grand final loss to the Cats still in the back of the minds of players and officials, the Murray Bombers are sure to have extra incentive to continue its winning season.
But with Mooroopna looking for an upset after opening its season 0-3, Dalziel said the week off would give his team the chance to recover towards full strength.
“It’s business as usual. We’ll work to get our structures right, but won't overload on fitness too early in the season,” Dalziel said.
“You don’t know what everyone will be like, so we take it week by week and control what we can control, which is our performance. Then the results take care of itself.”
But as the fixture moves quickly towards the half-way point and teams get a second chance shot at one another, Dalziel is anticipating the level of competition to pick up dramatically.
“Once you've played everyone, teams have had two months to work on game plans,” he said.
“Sides are coming back to full strength, so I’m expecting a strong second half of the season from everyone.”
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