‘The win we needed to have’: Mooroopna crushes depleted Mansfield

“There was an element of, as Paul Keating said years ago, the win (recession) that we needed to have,” Lamont said.

“We played Mansfield three times last year and they beat us three times.

“They were depleted, they had a number of key players out, but we still had to turn up with the right attitude, so I was pleased with the boys.”

Mansfield, missing Patrick Marks, Tom McDonagh, Cam Arnold, Jack Hutchins and Sam Thomson to name a few, was fed a slice of humble pie by Lamont’s hungry Cats in a Goulburn Valley League game where the Eagles’ omissions were glaring.

The game was sewn up by half-time with Mooroopna leading by 43 points and, bar an even final quarter, the loss left Mansfield mentor Chad Owens lamenting his squad’s output.

“We were obviously disappointed with the effort we put in, that’s not us,” Owens said.

“We were just miles off it in terms of consistency around effort, around contest, decision making, defending the ground.

“Our effort was too patchy to be considered up to standard and you know in this comp it doesn’t matter if you’re playing the top team or the bottom team, it’s irrelevant ― when you’re off, you’re off.

“We didn’t put them under enough pressure for the day and as a result they got their uncontested game going.

“They never felt nervous at any stage during the game I don’t think, whereas previously when we’ve played them we’ve had them under the pump and made them nervous.

“We didn’t fire enough shots obviously and as a result we’ve been embarrassed, really.”

Under pressure from minute one, Mansfield would go a goal down early as Daniel Johnston scooped up the ball and fired from outside the goal square.

Eagles engine Frazer Dale then replied with a rocket from range, receiving the ball from Ben Christopher and launching it from the arc to stir the away fans at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve.

Mansfield would not kick another until the third quarter, however.

In the meantime, Mooroopna’s Jackson Trengove would start the show with an effortless, almost lazy mark and finish for his first of six of the afternoon, while a mistake at the back gifted Keelin Betson a goal just before quarter-time.

Chris Nield executed a set shot to put the Cats 27-6 up in the second term, before the hosts went and drilled two in two minutes courtesy of Ethan Hunt and Trengove.

Missing some of its perennial forward threats, Mansfield squandered a raft of shots on goal as Christopher and Jayden Howes struggled to find good service up the park.

Young tall Gus Van Der Heyden would finally break the drought for Mansfield in the third quarter, kicking his debut senior goal to give the visitors a hint of respite – or so they thought.

With Liam Betson dominating the stoppage battle for Mooroopna with 36 hit-outs and 17 contested possessions, the ball was moving from east to west with frightening ease and on the end to capitalise was none other than dangerman Trengove.

His surgical precision from all angles gave the Cats a 58-point buffer going into the final quarter and although Mansfield matched Mooroopna’s 3.3 effort in the last, it meant little in the grand scheme as the home side beamed at the siren.

Lamont was radiant when speaking on his side’s performance to lift his Cats into a favourable fourth ladder position.

“There was a just enough rain this week, it was a quite heavy turf wicket of course, so it was a battle out of the stoppages through the middle of the ground – it was almost a war of attrition, last man standing there a couple of times,” he said.

“It was a really pleasing second quarter, our ball movement was pretty efficient.

“We got the ball quickly to our forwards, gave them a chance and still defended hard, so there’s a lot of positives for us in a game that was really important.”

He praised the defensive efforts of Rory Huggard as well as the Betson brothers, while despite the scoreline, Mansfield counterparts Dirk Koenen and Daniel Leggett worked tirelessly all game.

Dale was another of the Eagles to star, racking up 37 disposals and 11 total ground ball gets.