GVL | Echuca dismantles Kyabram in second-half blitz

By Josh Huntly

Jul 31, 2022

Flying high: Echuca's A.J. Mills climbs into the air. Photo by Steve Huntley

It was a tale of two halves at Victoria Park as a battle of two fierce Goulburn Valley League rivals unfolded.

In the first half, Kyabram threatened a round 15 upset after crafting some scintillating first-half football to lead GVL leader Echuca by 16 points at half-time.

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An anxious Echuca crowd pondered whether this would be the Murray Bombers’ first on-field defeat of the season as Kyabram dominated the contested football stakes, but it shouldn’t have worried.

Echuca compiled a trademark second-half blitz, slamming home 11 goals to the Bombers’ two and running out an emphatic 15.13 (103) to 9.5 (59) victor.

It was Echuca’s 14th straight win of the season and keeps the side two games clear atop the ladder.

It was also its fourth straight win over Kyabram after a decade of pain at the hands of the Bombers, and post-game Echuca co-coach Andrew Walker said it was good to notch up another victory against its 2019 grand final opponent.

“At the end of the day, Kyabram have been the benchmark for a long time,” Walker said.

“For the first couple of years I’ve been here, they’ve been the benchmark of the GV, but I think over the last couple of years we’ve slowly reeled them in.”

Kyabram got the early jump on Echuca, with Josh Dillon getting proceedings under way courtesy of a remarkable goal over his head.

Lachie Smith snared the first of his five goals for the match before Kayne Pettifer extended the Bombers’ early lead.

Ruory Kirkby got Echuca on the board late in the quarter, but Kyabram’s contested football superiority was telling.

The second quarter saw the game turn into a goal-for-goal contest, but despite Walker, Mitch Wales and Jackson Stewart wrenching back the midfield ascendancy, many of Echuca’s forward-50 entries were picked off by the ageless Jason Morgan.

Kyabram maintained momentum to lead 7.3 (45) to 4.5 (29) at half-time, but as has been the case all season, the premiership quarter is where Echuca excelled.

The Murray Bombers slammed home seven unanswered goals for the quarter as Cooper Barber, Dan Willis and Will Monahan snatched back the lead in a goal feast.

Holding a 30-point lead at the final break, Echuca extended its buffer to run away a 44-point winner in a complete reversal of the first-half form.

“The way (Kyabram) came out in the first half, they were all over us, to be honest,” Walker said.

“What we spoke to the boys about post-game was that football is all about resilience. Good sides show that resilience when good sides come at them, and I thought our boys after half-time really showed that.

“It was just about being able to win that inside battle first and foremost and then getting back to our brutal attack on the footy.”

Piling on: Echuca's Andrew Walker is wrapped up. Photo by Steve Huntley

Monahan and Kirkby each finished with four goals, while Cooper Barber’s three goals came at a crucial time for the Murray Bombers.

Lachlan Smith booted five goals in a gallant performance, while Bombers midfielder Kaine Herbert and veteran Morgan were some of the main drivers of their first-half push.

Kyabram’s defeat was compounded by a double-hit of injuries, with the Bombers down to no rotations by the fourth quarter, according to coach Paul Newman.

“We lost Cade Mueller to a knee, Nic Denahy did a hamstring and Jake Parkinson was a little underdone with a knee issue as well,” Newman said.

“We struggled in the second half with our rotations, but Echuca were able to spread us.”

Newman said he was pleased with his side’s endeavour early in the match, but admitted it needed to maintain that dominance at the coal face for longer.

“We went in there with real intent to put a bit of pressure on them,” he said.

“We were able to do that, but like good teams do they were just able to wrestle momentum back in the second half.

“Lachlan Smith kicked five in a seven or eight-goal game. Kaine Herbert was fantastic, especially in the first half. Jason Morgan was exceptional.

“I thought we had a lot of good players that won their position in the first half, but we just ran out of legs.”

The Bombers sit just one game inside the top six and are now in a fight with Rochester (sixth) and Seymour (seventh) to stay there, with games against Benalla (10th), Mansfield (third) and Shepparton Swans (eighth) to round out the home-and-away season.

Echuca heads into another split round bye at the top of the ladder with a 14-1 win-loss record.

Walker said the side’s focus would not be on its upcoming finals campaign just yet.

Echuca will return to play against Shepparton Bears post-bye.

“We won’t be talking about finals, to be honest. It’s really about the preparation leading up to that point,” Walker said.