ECHUCA UNITED is flying in second spot on the Murray Football League ladder and their unbeaten start to the season doesn’t look like stopping any time soon.
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Two convincing victories in a row, following their narrow first up win over Deniliquin, has the Eagles showing exactly why they think they can finish in the top three.
They will enter the weekend’s clash with Tongala as favourites and rightly so.
Down forward Josh Mellington is firing and we’re expecting him to kick another bag.
Another victory is on the agenda before taking on their biggest challenge yet against Numurkah.
■ MOAMA showed positive signs on Friday against United, but again were overrun by one quarter of brilliance.
This team hasn’t hidden from their issues — they know they have to maintain it for a bit longer.
They have a good test on the road in Congupna.
Congupna hasn’t been travelling to well this season, having run in to speed bumps in Mulwala and the surprise packet of the season in the Deni Rams so far.
They sit ninth with a sole win against Rumba, a match they won by a street, but by no means are they in great form.
If Moama doesn’t run out of petrol, they can provide a serious roadblock.
And they need to — with Barooga and Mulwala in the following weeks, it isn’t going to be easy to get a win for a while.
■ TONGALA may have a win to their name, but they haven’t really set the world on fire.
They had patches against Nathalia where they were able to match the intensity of the Purples, but they never had the ability to get on top of them.
Realistically, they were able to get on top of a side for a whole one quarter so far this season.
Echuca United is not the kind of side you can have a few good patches against.
We saw on Good Friday — if you aren’t on all day, they will tear you apart.
It only takes 20 minutes and since we haven’t seen Tonny hold an opponent down for long in a match, we think United will tear the Blues apart.
This could be a big loss for Tonny.
■ LEITCHVILLE-GUNBOWER may not have the cattle of previous seasons, as was shown against North Bendigo, but things take time.
It’s still realistically a young side learning to play football together, so they will need some time to gel.
Round three of Heathcote District Football League could be something of an experience gaining week. The Bombers face an Elmore opponent who are looking better but not looking good in 2019.
It’s an opportunity for the Bombers to try some things out and get their game plan flowing.
The ideas are there, the execution needs to sharpen up, so if they work well together this week, it will be a start.
■ LBU appears to be the real deal this season.
They claimed three big wins to start their season and another quality side in Huntly awaits on Saturday.
The Hawks are yet to win a game, but that doesn’t underline the quality they have in their ranks, only falling to Elmore by three points last weekend.
But they’re going to have a big task on their hands to stop an LBU forward line which continues to wreak havoc.
On that basis, the Cats are going to continue rolling along with another win.
■ MATHOURA is on the upward trajectory in the Picola and District Football Netball League, but it’s a slow rise.
Every week is going to be a learning curve for the Timbercutters and the trip to Picola United will be no different.
At some stage this season, they will cause a shock in the competition.
But so early in the season it is hard to see where that is going to come from.
With only a single game to their name, it’s very hard to get a read on the Timbercutters.
Picola will come away with the points on Saturday.