MFL | Cobram inflicts Tongala’s first defeat in three years

By Josh Huntly

May 29, 2022

Big blue: Tempers flared between Tongala and Cobram, but the Tigers had the last laugh to run out 48-point winners. Photo: Daniel Webb Photo by Daniel Webb

Tongala’s unbeaten run in the Murray Football League has come to an end, while Cobram stamped itself as the outright flag favourite.

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The Blues’ first defeat in 981 days came at the hands of a red-hot Cobram outfit on Saturday, with the Tigers stunning Tongala in an astonishing first-quarter assault.

Cobram piled on 8.2 to the Blues' scoreless opening term, securing outright premiership favouritism in one glorious blitz.

Despite a stronger Blues showing in the final three quarters, Cobram ultimately skipped away to a convincing 14.9 (93) to 6.9 (45) victory over the reigning minor premier.

Tongala coach Jordan Souter admitted the first quarter was a bridge too far to come back from.

“(Cobram) jumped us in the first quarter, and that was the difference at the end of the day,” Souter said.

“They were raring to go and were better than us. They’re going to be hard to beat.”

On to the next: Cameron Ilett was once again in the best for Tongala. Photo: Daniel Webb Photo by Daniel Webb

It’s Tongala’s first defeat since the 2019 MFL grand final, and Souter said his side’s response to the defeat could go either way.

“It’s been a long time since we had a loss,” Souter said.

“We can go either way — we can crawl away and say we’re not good enough, or we can work hard and try to improve our game.

“Hopefully we can become competitive with them and knock them off later in the year.”

Cobram’s Tyron Baden was judged best-on-ground after snagging five goals, while Cadeyn Williams, Harry Beasley and Lewis McShane were also prominent.

For Tongala, Brock McLean was once again in the Blues’ best, while Brayden Nevett managed to restrict leading MFL goal-kicker Darcy Pridham-McCormack to two goals.

Mackenzie Cowley booted three goals for the Blues, but contributors were few and far between for Tongala, who will now look to next round’s clash against Congupna to rebound.

“We’ve got plenty to work on,” Souter said.

“We’ll put our head down on the track, work harder than ever and hopefully get them back.”

Cobram now moves to an 8-0 record, sharing unbeaten status with Mulwala, who had a convincing win over Deniliquin at the weekend.

The Tigers are now firmly premiership favourites following the victory, but Cobram coach John Brunskill expects it won’t be the last time they see Tongala this season.

“It’s always dangerous coming off a week break into a game of football, so the focus was to start pretty well and the boys did,” Brunskill told Shepp News.

“We controlled the footy, that was our biggest thing.

“Tongala are obviously a really good side so we wanted the challenge too, and they’ll be there at the business end of the season, don’t you worry about that.”

Around the league, Finley picked up its first win of the season with a convincing 58-point win over Rumbalara.

Congupna had a 50-point victory over Barooga to notch its third straight win, while Nathalia and Moama also picked up big wins.