Mooroopna head coach John Lamont has given his assessment of how his troops are faring.
Photo by
James Kleeman
Mooroopna head coach John Lamont believes his side has reached its “baseline effort” level in recent weeks as his side prepares for two successive home fixtures in the Goulburn Valley League.
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The Cats currently reside ninth in the standings after 10 games played, having tallied up four wins and six losses across the 2026 campaign thus far.
Last time out, they fell to a 10.16 (76) to 10.8 (68) defeat on the road against Rochester in round 10, as the Tigers clinched maximum points following a ruthless onslaught in the third quarter.
In truth, the first half belonged to Mooroopna, with Lamont’s charges having come out of the blocks with intent, kicking five goals and as many behinds before half-time in an impressive showing.
However, whatever Rochester coach Ash Watson had to say during the interval had the desired effect.
The boys in the yellow and black guernseys hit the scoreboard five times during the third period to gain an 11-point advantage heading into the final stages.
Despite a valiant effort from the visitors, as they kicked three goals in the fourth quarter, this late revival wasn’t enough to stem the damage inflicted earlier in the clash - as the hosts claimed an eight-point triumph.
John Lamont reflected on Mooroopna’s recent defeat against Rochester.
Photo by
Aydin Payne
The defeated side will have headed back down the highway buoyed by the spread of goal-kickers on the day, with Isaac Dowling, William Emanuelli, Dan Tuddenham notching two each, as Will Wood, Liam Adams and Jack Osborne also got in on the act.
Irrespective of the result down at Moon Oval, Cats coach Lamont was left feeling positive about his side’s efforts, as he looks ahead to a pair of home fixtures against Benalla and Tatura in the coming weeks.
“Benalla is the last team we haven’t played yet and because of the evenness of the competition, they’re in the hunt for the finals still,” he said, previewing the battle with the Saints.
“They’re in the mix and so for us it’ll be about playing the four full quarters as that is what let us down last week.”
“We’ve reached that baseline effort game over the last couple of weeks against Seymour and Kyabram but we dropped our output (versus Rochester).
“Because the competition is so even, if you drop your output, you give the opportunity to the opposition - and (Rochester) took it.”
In a closing address, Lamont also outlined what his team must do if they are to secure all four points against Benalla next time.
“So we’ve got to try and close Benalla out early and then keep them out of the game and not let them back in by playing four quarters of our footy,” he said.
The Cats will host the Saints at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
This weekend’s98.5One FM Broadcast on Saturday will be between Shepparton Swans and Euroa, live from 1:30pm at Princess Park.
