It’s undoubtedly been a pair of success stories in 2024 between these two clubs, with harbingers of past glories at the Bears rapidly propelling them towards more, while Mooroopna recovered more than ably from two stinging key forward departures to defy the scoreboard odds time and again.
On top of that, signs are all good at the top as well with Ted Lindon and Xavier Stevenson committing to another year at the Shepparton helm and John Lamont signing on for 2025 at the Cattery.
You’re here for numbers, though, so let’s get an inside look at those:
Bears and Cats by the numbers in 2024 (season avg.)
Kicking efficiency: 65% (third) - 64% (fourth)
Handball efficiency: 80% (joint-second) - 84% (first)
Tackles: 67.6 (first) - 60.6 (sixth)
Clearances: 41.7 (joint-second) - 41.7 (joint-second)
Disposals: 343.3 (fifth) - 369 (first)
It’s perhaps little surprise that Mooroopna’s greater overall volume of ball use has translated to better outcomes by hand in a generally faster pace of movement.
Though the difference in effectiveness by foot is rather meagre, it’s worth noting Shepparton’s extremely dominant reliance on kicking and hitting targets from distance that still places the Bears top three in the league.
As mentioned in episode one of News podcast The Home Stretch last week, despite their reputation as kings around the contest, it was revealed that the Bears only won the contested possession count in 10 of their 18 regular-season games — then got beaten in that count in their collapse against Echuca last week.
Lamont’s men never truly cultivated such a reputation, but sure enough, there the two sides are sitting dead level in the clearance tallies.
In fact, a few of Kyabram’s stats from that Saturday night elimination final thriller look similar to what you’d expect from Shepparton — more than double the amount of kicks as handpasses, claiming more intercept marks than Mooroopna and maintaining a handy buffer in hit-outs to advantage.
What ultimately stopped any of those factors from getting the Bombers over the line was going at just 53 per cent by foot and, while the Cats weren’t intercepting everything in the air, they forced contests and crumbed superbly to lead the actual intercept possession count despite registering 91 more disposals.
The blueprint is there and Mooroopna had a taste of what to expect last week — but can Shepparton’s premiership-calibre personnel break the wall in a way last year’s grand finalists couldn’t?
One FM is broadcasting the GVL semi-final between Shepparton and Mooroopna on Sunday as well as the Kyabram District League preliminary final between Shepparton East and Lancaster on Saturday, both live on air from 2pm.
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