Magpies thump disappointing Rumbalara

A quick start saw the visiting side lead 9.5 (59) to no score at the first break, before a remarkable 11 goals to one in the second quarter meant the half-time margin was a scarcely believable 122 points.

Rumbalara’s second term goal was the only one it kicked for the entire match, as the Magpies continued their rout with 12 goals in the second half to record a monster 201-point win, the largest victory in the league this season.

While the win was expected, Moama coach Sam Sheldon was still quick to point out it came against a side in the middle of significant hardship.

“Rumba are obviously going through a bit of, I guess a rebuild phase, as a senior group,” he said.

“They had a few blokes missing and we took advantage of it and had a good win, which was pleasing.”

There were 13 individual goal-kickers for Moama, although it was Tom Sheldon’s big bag of 11 that was the highlight, with the former Kyabram star set to bolster the Magpies at either end of the ground for the rest of the season, according to the Magpies’ coach.

“He'll sort of go both ends,” Sheldon said of Tom.

“But it was good for him to kick 11. He let everyone know about it, too.”

Jack Russell (two goals) also drew praise from his coach, although the complete team performance made it hard to single out players.

“Jack Russell, our skipper, his first half was really good. He's pretty consistent,” Sheldon said.

“But apart from that, it was sort of a hard game for the defenders, obviously. A lot of the forwards were in amongst it, but everyone were pretty even contributors.”

Mitchell Bell, Callum Doyle and Mitchell Lake snagged three majors each, while Riley Chilver and Dougal McKindlay had two each to round out the multiple goal-scorers.

Perhaps the most significant wins for Moama occurred in other matches, however, with a number of results around the grounds aiding the Magpies’ bid for a top-two finish.

Finley announced itself as a dark horse of the competition by claiming the scalp of second-placed Congupna, while Numurkah handed Mulwala its first defeat of the year.

Those results now mean Moama, which just two weeks ago was three games off the pace of Congupna in second, now sits just a game behind with half the season still to play.

Sheldon remained unflappable two weeks ago when the possibility of a top-two finish having already passed his side by was put to him, and speaking after the win over Rumbalara, again reiterated that his side was focused on the immediate job at hand rather than becoming concerned with ladder positions.

“I mean, it's a long year. As I said a couple weeks ago, you've just got to focus on the week to week and getting over that challenge as it comes,” he said.

“We lost two or three in a row and everyone was sort of saying on the ladder you're out of reach of the top two, but it's all come back now, so we just need to keep winning.”

The attention for the Magpies will now turn to Echuca United, who they meet at Moama Recreation Reserve next Saturday in defence of the Three Jacks Trophy.

“It's obviously the cross-town rivalry, it's always good fun,” Sheldon said.

“They'll get up for it, no doubt. They're improving too as the year has gone on, so it will be a good game.”

Moama enjoys a favourable fixture in the next fortnight, facing the 11th-placed Eagles and then taking on 12th-placed Tocumwal, before an important meeting against Numurkah awaits in round 13.