In a pulsating, back-and-forth round four contest against the Blues, co-captain Ashtyn Atkinson’s goal at the 19-minute mark of the third quarter had shot Rumba to a comfortable 30-point buffer.
With a maiden win in sight, they would have thought they had finally shaken a determined Tonny.
Instead, they observed as Tongala slammed home five unanswered goals in as many minutes to draw within a point at the final break and the nerves wouldn’t have eased in the early stages of the final stanza after Bailey Waasdorp goaled early to send Tongala six points clear.
Enter boom recruit Michael Mummery.
In an inspired final term, Mummery answered the Blues' fourth-quarter challenge with three majors to finish with nine for the game and, importantly, hand Rumbalara a breakthrough 15.11 (101) to 13.11 (89) win.
It was an impressive display of character from a young group under pressure, according to co-coach Kane Atkinson.
“We started to worry a bit, but I’m really proud of the boys who stood up in those circumstances and still came away with a win,” Atkinson said.
“(The message) was just to remain positive; sometimes you can see heads drop when a side gets on top, but they picked themselves back up.
“We just went back to what’s working well for us, which was mainly our pressure and defensive acts through the course of the game to keep us in it.”
Rumbalara held one-goal leads heading into the first two breaks before the Blues’ third-term blitz, led by Jordan Souter, Jack Hammond and two goals from Mackenzie Cowley.
But co-skippers Kydan and Ashtyn Atkinson, roving at the feet of young ruckman Will Morgan, led the midfield revival admirably, ably supported by Kevin Maroney and Levy Tejones.
After making the move from the Murray Magpies to Mercury Dve in 2025, Mummery’s influence is starting to be felt with 16 goals from his past three games.
“He’s been a key in for us at the club, not only him but his partner Marlee who’s playing in the women’s team,” Atkinson said.
“The delivery to him (Mummery) from the mids gave him every option to do his work; we know how dangerous he is and if we give him good supply he’ll do the rest.
“I can’t really fault anyone throughout the course of the day, our two captains, Kydan and Ashtyn, really led the way in the middle.
“Our ruckman Will Morgan is only 19 and he just doesn’t give up; we lost one of our rucks before the season started and he’s had to play a massive role for us.”
Victory breaks a string of comfortable losses to start the year for Rumbalara, which now welcomes Deniliquin for round five.
Elsewhere, Congupna’s run of triple-figure thumpings has continued, this time against Barooga.
And such was The Road’s dominance, they almost kept the Hawks scoreless in one of the more remarkable scorelines seen in Murray Football League.
Congupna’s back six restricted Barooga to one behind for the game and, at the other end, Kyle Mueller capitalised with a 10-goal blitz to launch The Road to a 28.21 (189) to 0.1 (1) victory, their fourth win by more than 100 points to start the season.
Daniel Schaper (five goals), Jak Trewin (three) and Thomas McCluskey were also dominant in supporting the star forward.
They share an undefeated 4-0 win-loss record with Cobram, which trounced Echuca United by 65 points at Scott Oval.
Moama secured its third consecutive win with a 15-point triumph over Finley to consolidate third spot, while Mulwala responded to last week’s heavy loss to Congupna by doling out a 44-point defeat of Deniliquin.
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