MFL | Moama’s finals charge hits Road-block

The Magpies had been in good form with wins over Mulwala and Cobram and a strong performance against Tongala in a narrow one-point loss in recent weeks, but they fell flat against Congupna.

Magpies coach Sam Sheldon said his side simply wasn’t good enough on the day, offering a stark assessment of the performance.

“We just weren’t on. We went away from what we have been doing in recent weeks and this is what happens, you get a flogging for it,” Sheldon said.

“It was just one of those days. We couldn’t get anything going and we couldn’t get any rhythm. When it’s like that you need to work hard to break through it and we just didn’t knuckle down and do it.”

On the flip side, it was a comprehensive display from Congupna, which claimed its second win over Moama this season and held the Pies to their lowest score of the year.

“They just outdid us everywhere on the field. They played a good brand of footy and we couldn’t keep up with them,” Sheldon said.

“They dominated us in the air and they have a hard-running midfield and we couldn’t stick with them.

"Congupa has a really good style and they have a good team. They understood what they were doing and they executed it well, and we couldn’t break that at all.“

Jak Trewin was the main man for the Road up forward, booting five of his side’s 10 goals, with five other Congupna players hitting the scoreboard.

The Road lead by 28 points at half-time, weathering a Moama resurgence in the third term before holding the Magpies to just a lone behind in the final stanza to run out 45-point winners.

The four points for Congupna means it looks all but certain to make the finals, even if that status is not yet mathematically guaranteed.

The Road now sit on 44 points, the same total as Moama, with two rounds left to play.

The two sides are 12 points clear of Nathalia in seventh, although the Purples still have a game in hand, meaning they aren’t assured of finals football just yet.

A win for Moama would have locked in its spot inside the top six, but instead it will have to wait at least another week for that. However, its hopes of a top-two finish look gone.

It was a disappointing day out, but Sheldon said there were still some positives he hoped to take away from the game.

“In hindsight we probably should have done a few things differently at training during the week, but it’s all a learning experience so we’ll be better for it,” he said.

“After the first half, a few of the boys got going and we tried to wrestle it back. It was a positive that we didn’t roll over. It’s a reality check, which we can hopefully use as motivation as well.“

Moama has the week off coming up thanks to the split round before returning to action against Nathalia in round 17.