Kyabram crushes Shepparton United with wholehearted effort in Goulburn Valley League

A nine-goal opening display rocked United to its core, never truly recovering from Kyabram’s shots to the solar plexus as the hosts left with a healthy 23.9 (147) to 3.4 (22) victory.

Bombers co-coach Corey Carver labelled Saturday’s effort as “probably our first real four-quarter game to be honest”.

“We’d been playing some really good halves and three quarters, but couldn’t put it all together, so yesterday was a full 120 minutes which was good,” he said.

If the 56-point to nil first quarter was a barrage, Anthony Depasquale certainly wound up the initial combo for Kyabram.

The accurate young Bomber sniped three goals to set off the run, with five other men in the sash slotting within the first half-hour to stun United into submission.

Duane Hueston’s Demons somewhat clotted the flow in the second term, but their 0.3 effort left Kyabram 11 goals to the good at the main change of ends.

Carver indicated the first-quarter launch was likely a perfect storm of Kyabram starting off white-hot and United doing the exact opposite.

“I think it was a bit of both,” he said.

“We came out right from the word go which was great, particularly our midfield sort of really got rolling.

“Once you get going then the tails are up, it just kept rolling for us.

“They certainly played a lot better after quarter-time, but I think for whatever reason were a bit slow in starting themselves, so that helped.”

Kyabram went on to rack up another 12 goals in the second half while restricting United to three, pointing to a galvanised defensive showing from the Bombers’ back six.

Carver lauded the games of ruck dominator Marcus Khoo and full-back Aidan Robinson, who the coach says has found himself in a “really good purple patch at the moment”.

Depasquale finished the day with four goals, as did Riley Ironside, while Brad Mangan and Khoo chimed in with three apiece.

Charlie Barnett also returned for the first time since round six, and with Jason Morgan and Tom Burnett hoped to return in the next few weeks, the Bombers’ season is slowly but surely starting to gain recourse.

“(The season has) been great for our young guys; we’ve had a lot of guys who’ve debuted this year or who are in their second season, so that’s a real improvement from those guys,” Carver said.

“With a lot of injuries early, we were able to get some games into them, so now with a few guys coming back I‘m hoping that experience is going to stand them in good stead now.

“Time will tell, but we’ve got three pretty big games to finish the year off.”

The first of which is a high stakes, fourth versus fifth clash with Mooroopna in round 16.

After the Cats pipped Kyabram by eight points in the season opener, Carver intends to settle the score in this coming Saturday’s rematch.

“They just got us in round one under the lights in Ky, so we’re hoping yesterday’s form continues and we can put a good game together against them,” he said.

“Time will tell but we’re certainly confident — it’ll be a good game.”