Echuca United goes down to ladder-leading Lions

Yet as has happened on a number of occasions this year, the young Eagles suffered from a lapse, giving up five goals without reply either side of the half-time break as the margin eclipsed 75 points.

On a positive note, Echuca United rallied to win the last quarter, kicking three goals to one, although the final score was still an unflattering 6.4 (40) to 16.10 (106).

Eagles coach Farran Priest was understandably disappointed with result, especially after the good start.

“I thought we started really well, we kicked three or four in the first, matched it with them a lot,” he said.

“Then the second and third quarter, we didn't even score a goal. They put some pressure on us, their midfielders got on top, they were on top all day, which was really disappointing because we had a big emphasis on trying to slow that down.”

As disappointing as his side was at some points of the game, there will still positives to be found by Priest.

“It was somewhat disappointing, but if you can't kick goals in the second and third quarter, you're not going to expect to go far in that game,” he said.

“We take a positive out of it that we didn't give up, and the group was still invested at three quarter time and invested enough to finish off the game, so that was the pleasing part.”

There were three standout players for Echuca United, according to Priest, who praised the efforts of a select few.

“I've got no question everyone tried, but Matt Harris, he just didn't give up, continued to put his body on the line,” Priest said.

“Mulwala are quite a big side, we're obviously quite young and small, but Matt played really well.

“Leyton Shenfield, he was a rock for us down back and I ended up putting him on the ball. He's had a really good start to the year, and he’s had a really good consistent year for us.

“Jesse Garner competed, his pressure was elite. We just didn’t get much fluency forward and when we did it was a really high kick, so it was a tricky day for forwards but yeah, those three played pretty well."

The Eagles will play Finley at home next week, and will look to find some form in the last six rounds of the season after experiencing just one win from the past eight games.

“We're not a side that’s going to give up,” Priest said.

“That’s one thing that we're quite clear about as a group, and we're going to obviously strive to win if not half of those games on the way home."