Sport

Magpies find room in top two after flying past Blues

By Oliver Shedden

Aug 3, 2025

Cameron Ilett and Tongala tried to chase down Fraser Verhey and Moama to no avail in round 16. Photos: Jordan Townrow Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Moama has given itself some breathing room in the top two of Murray Football League with two games remaining after a strong start was enough to oust a competitive Tongala.

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Hosting the Blues at Moama Recreation Reserve, the Magpies built on their strong performance against Deniliquin to put their opponent under siege from the start.

This hunger beared fruit, with Moama nailing six majors in the opening quarter, with co-coaches Liam Barrett and Jye Warren bagging doubles.

Jake Ellery winds up for a bomb. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Despite creating a 30-point quarter-time lead, Moama (2.1) took its foot off the gas, allowing Tongala to kick three goals and get within touching distance.

This trend continued after half-time, with the Blues having a majority share of possession, sending four more through the middle and holding the Magpies to a pair of goals to bring themselves within two goals at the final turn.

James Whitehead opens up in space. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Yet, the Magpies are ranked second in the competition for a reason and when push came to shove, they delivered.

Unleashing four goals down the stretch while preventing much of Tongala’s (2.2) production inside 50 was enough for Moama to fly away to a 14.14 (98) to 10.9 (69) victory.

Mitchell Lake tries to soccer it past Kyle Halliwell. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Barrett led the way in front of goal with four to his name, but he outlined captain Mitchell Lake’s performance as the highlight for his side.

“Mitch Lake is our captain this year and he’s really taken it in his stride and developing his leadership each week, and yesterday he stood up throughout the day,” he said.

“He was doing a good job in linking our backs and forwards and I felt he competed hard and presented well.

“He led from the front, particularly in that last quarter where he took some strong pack marks that led to scores for us, he was pivotal.”

Cameron Ilett was named best-on-ground for Tongala in the contest. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Barrett had conflicting opinions about his side’s performance in round 16, highlighting his team’s need to play four quarters of football, particularly after starting strongly.

“It was a mixed day for us, we weren’t out the best, but we were happy to get the four points and move on to face Barooga after the bye,” he said.

“We were happy with our performance last week at Deniliquin, so we wanted to make sure to continue that, we thought if we could start the game well that the rest would flow from there.

“Although the start was pleasing, we just need to keep working on playing the whole four quarters and don’t have those fluctuations in the game.”

Jye Warren in motion. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Following a break in the back half of round 16 this weekend, Moama should get another win under its belt against Barooga in round 17 before finishing its season in a clash against Numurkah.

Meanwhile, the Blues will have a tough time of it in their last two fixtures of 2025, battling undefeated Congupna and serious finals threat Mulwala to close out their season.