The Murray Football Netball League is back for a full round this Saturday, May 4, with all teams now four games into their 2024 campaign after a split round over the last two weeks.
A tantalising clash looms at Moama Recreation Reserve when the Magpies host Tongala in round five.
In senior football the sides neighbour each other on the table after both taking three of their first four fixtures.
Moama holds the edge on percentage, boasting a 170.71 to Tonny’s 108.36, and will likely hold favourite status due to a long-term resume including preliminary finals appearances in the last two seasons.
“Billy Barnes has come in and has got a really good list together,” Moama coach Jye Warren said of the Magpies opponents.
“Speaking to him over the pre-season that was sort of the goal for him was to make sure that he gets a really good spread of young and experienced players and obviously they had a nice little win against Barooga.
“We'll go in confident that we'll beat them one on one (but) we'll also be wary of those key-position players that have obviously been pretty successful for them over the last few years.”
Meanwhile, the Blues have rebuilt under new coach Billy Barnes and after just five wins in 2023 look to be putting together a case for finals themselves after winning their last three games in a row.
“We’ll slightly change our approach for different dynamics of different teams going in but the focus still just remains on us,” coach Barnes said ahead of the game.
“How we can get better as a group, being a new group, and the things that we implemented over the process and that we want to try and make sure that we’re doing consistently.”
On the A-grade netball court defending champion Tongala has had an uneventful start to its title defence, mostly due to a favourable early fixture list that has seen the Blues play the league’s three winless sides over the last three rounds.
They face a Moama team who has looked to be in the upper tier of sides through four games, with an eight-goal loss to undefeated Rumbalara the only blemish on its record so far.
Echuca United will travel to Mulwala with both Eagles sides looking for their first win on the year.
United’s senior football side currently sits at the bottom of the table with its 26.62 percentage the worst in the league.
The two-time defending champions, Mulwala, has made an ignominious start to its three-peat quest, winning only two of its first four, so there may be scope for the Eagles to draw the Lions into a contest.
In A-grade netball, Echuca United finds itself in 10th place after recording one draw and three losses so far this year.
The Eagles have endured a tough draw up to this point, having already played, and lost two the league’s current top three sides, Rumbalara, Tongala, and Moama.
The 2023 grand finalists, Mulwala, has compiled a 2-2 record through the first four rounds.