Shepparton has booked a home preliminary final and avoided a dreaded straight sets exit after a pressure-filled semi-final win over Mooroopna in Seymour.
The Bears ensured no repeat of last week’s fadeout against Echuca, keeping their premiership aspirations alive to bring an end to the Cats golden run and, consequently, John Lamont’s tenure as coach.
Mooroopna had gone from 2-5 earlier in the year to toppling Seymour in last week’s elimination final, but Shepparton knew exactly where to lift to extract a 21-point victory at a windswept Kings Park.
“Our review (after Echuca) was pretty clinical as far as to what we can do better,” Bears co-coach Jason Well said post-game.
“It came back to ‘can we sustain pressure for longer’?
“Today, I thought it was elite.”
From the opening bounce, Shepparton’s attack on the ball never wavered.
Kicking with the wind, the Bears’ first major came through Morrison Medal fancy Luke Smith in an ominous sign of things to come, before a Liam Teague dribble and a sharp longe-range strike from Trent Herbert saw them go three goals clear before the Cats could score.
However, the Bears would need to run out the game a rotation down after breakout star Daniel Meek suffered a match-ending ankle injury.
Mooroopna’s goal-kicking drought continued into the early stages of the second stanza before a rallying Jed Woods’ tumbling inside-50 ball found Dan Tuddenham, who crumbed and snapped successfully to get the Cats on the board 15 minutes into the second term.
Remarkably, his good work was undone almost immediately.
A free kick against Tuddenham moments later off the ball saw Teague approach directly in front of goal from a 50-metre penalty, booting his second to get Shepparton out to three goals and quell any immediate momentum the Cats could have clinched.
Smith continued to make his influence felt in the midfield, kicking his second goal of the day on the run to fire Shepparton out to a game-high 25-point lead, but a Reeve Evans strike on the eve of half-time saw the margin return to a three-goal buffer.
The third quarter, however, was all Shepparton's.
Shepparton’s midfield triumvirate of Smith, Jake Watts, and ruckman Ash Hollands took control of the midfield battle despite the best efforts of Keelin Betson, Woods, and Evans the other way, running away with five goals to two - a pair to the credit of Angus Williams - to a 39-point difference at the last change.
The Cats reversed that in the final quarter, but the damage had been done - Shepparton strode to a 12.11 (83) to 9.8 (62) triumph to keep their season alive.
“(Our pressure) is one thing that’s held up really well all year,” Wells said.
“We set ourselves in November for a defensive mindset, they’ve adapted to that really well.
“We knew if we brought that it’s just going to put pressure on sides.”
Wells paid tribute to a suffocating defensive effort from his back six and the brilliance of his midfield duo for steering the Bears within reach of their first grand final appearance in two seasons.
“(Liam Duguid) sets the scene down back, we know when he’s up and about that the rest of them are,” he said.
“We’ve got leadership with Jonty (Wardle) and Mitch (Brett), Bryce Stephenson was fantastic again, Zac Metcalf can take the ball in the air and on the ground.
“Wattsy’s been fantastic; he had injuries earlier in the year and he was in and out of Collingwood. He’s matured so much as a footballer and he’s starting to hurt sides.
“Luke’s Luke. He’s such a wonderful person first and foremost but the talent he has in football at his size to lay eight to 10 tackles a game is huge.”
The Bears will now turn their attention to the Deakin Reserve Preliminary Final on Sunday, September 13, where either Echuca or Kyabram will stand between them and a grand final berth.
13°C