One hand: Mooroopna's Chris Nield takes a smooth grab.
Mooroopna coach John Lamont urged on his players in an animated three-quarter time address to get over the line in Saturday night’s narrow victory against Shepparton.
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Lamont called for his players to switch “pumpkins off and brains on” as they stared down a five-point deficit at the final break of the Goulburn Valley League contest.
It was yet another of Lamont’s quirky and creative anecdotes.
And it paid off.
Mooroopna stormed out of the blocks to boot 4.2 to overrun the Bears by 14 points and chalk up win number two in 2023.
How did the Cats turn things around in the final term?
Well it seemed Lamont’s rocket inspired his charges to lift their intensity and the Cats went on to win the tackle count 16-9.
The Cats’ overall pressure was at 27 for the quarter, compared to Shepparton’s 18, and their hunger around the contest resulted in the Bears going into their shell.
The Bears went at 57 per cent disposal efficiency for the last quarter, in comparison to Mooroopna’s 63 per cent.
That was Shepparton’s lowest efficiency in a quarter for the match, following efforts of 72 per cent and 79 per cent in the first and third terms respectively.
Mooroopna got on top around the stoppages and finished plus-two in the clearance count to end with nine for the term — four of those coming from centre clearances which gave the Cats much needed territory.
The home side won the inside 50 count 11-5 and ended with a scoring efficiency of 54 per cent which was the club’s highest of the match.
Surprisingly, Shepparton won the contested possessions (28-23) and total groundball gets (19-13).
Liam Betson was huge in the final term with 13 hit-outs, five disposals, four clearances and two tackles.
Midfield jet Ethan Hunt chalked up nine disposals in the final term to end on 33 for the game.
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