GVL Data

GVL Data ǀ Can Bombers backs keep Cats’ forwards quiet?

By James Kleeman

Jul 7, 2022

Big challenge: Kyabram’s Jason Morgan and his back six will have their work cut out for them this weekend.

The stage is set and the stars have assembled for a fascinating encounter between Kyabram and Mooroopna at Kyabram Recreation Reserve this weekend.

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All eyes will be on Mooroopna, with former AFL star Jackson Trengove set to pull on a Cats jumper for their clash with the Bombers this Saturday.

Kyabram mentor Paul Newman said his defensive unit would enjoy the challenge of playing on someone of Trengove’s calibre, and that a number of his backmen would be up to the task.

“He’s going to be fantastic for them, obviously he’s a pretty highly credentialed footballer,” Newman said.

“We’ve got probably the strongest defence in the comp in our back six, there’s a number of guys there that could potentially go to him.”

It’s easy to see why the Bombers are considered one of the stingiest defences in the league — having conceded just 644 points this season, the equal third-least across the competition.

But thanks to GVL Data we can delve further into how exactly they manage that feat.

Unlike, for example, Shepparton or Echuca — who have managed 257 and 220 spoils respectively this campaign — Kyabram does not look to bring the ball to ground at all costs.

In fact, Newman’s troops do the opposite.

Although they rank ninth for spoils in the competition with 179, the Bombers lead the way in intercept marks with 213 and contested marks with 181.

It helps the side turn defence into offence much more readily on game day, rather than halving a contest and leaving it up to those on the ground to win the ball.

The Bombers regularly source most of their scoring from turnovers, capitalising on those intercept marks and making the opposition pay up the other end.

In last round’s drubbing of Tatura, Kyabram kicked 11.8 (74) of its 21.19 (145) — more than half — from stoppages, and the previous week it was 7.4 (46) of 11.9 (75) from turnovers in a close loss to Rochester.

In Kyabram’s round 10 defeat at the hands of Mansfield it kicked 43 of its 56 points from turnovers as the main source, while in a round-nine win over Shepparton it was 32 of 45 points which came from turnovers for Newman’s men.

Adding Trengove’s aerial prowess to that of Chris Nield — who has an equal league-high 77 marks inside 50 and leads the competition for goals with 53 — will help Mooroopna stretch the Bombers’ back six on Saturday, but will it be enough to secure a win in the battle of the skies?

Only time will tell.