Shepparton Swans stay alive after surviving scrappy Goulburn Valley League contest with Euroa

Now, of course, things went a little differently last time these sides met in a memorable affair at Princess Park — that’s not where the deja vu kicks in.

The hard-fought clash on the south side brought an identical scoreline to the Swans’ do-or-die clash with Seymour three weeks ago, though, in a galvanising 11.7 (73) to 9.8 (62) result for the red and white to keep them on the fringes of finals places.

The overall trajectory of the game would have brought an uncomfortable sense of reality for Euroa faithful as well, although a booming long-range finish from Andrew Hill to open proceedings was at least a pleasant callback to last week’s early Fletcher Paul bomb.

The conditions were certainly much more grey overhead and muddy underfoot than seven days prior in the Kyabram clash, though, and it showed in the overall quality of ball movement for the most part early on.

The blows eventually started to land as Matt Perry got the Swans on the board before Jacob Gleeson stood up with a leader’s goal to restore the advantage and Silver Yousif ensured an 11-point margin at the first change with a late snag.

It’s a good thing Fletcher Paul’s hair could identify him because such were the challenges of navigating the Euroa turf, his jumper number was all but invisible midway through the second.

It was a happy day for the man in the other number 20 jumper, though, as Andrew Riordan celebrated his 150th game with a hard-fought win after featuring in The News earlier this week.

More importantly, though, the Magpies were out to a lead of more than 20 by that same stage as the stars combined, with coach Ryan Pendlebury launching home with a long bomb before offensive talisman Jett Trotter opened his account shortly before the main break.

With everything realistically on the line, however, the visitors would not be denied as Max Clohesy began a furious rally with a sumptuous finish evading a couple of tacklers that would have looked sleek even in dry weather.

Steele Simpson quickly joined the party, an apt reward for some highly effective link-up play on the quick spin playing on the half-forward flank that proved pivotal in gaining the right kind of territory.

Nathan Hrovat’s second major handed the Swans a surprise lead moments into the third term before the real arm-wrestle that would define the afternoon kicked off.

On a day which featured a broad range of contributors on the scoreboard, Perry emerged as the definitive target keeping the Swans in a competitive position with an enormously important pair of goals in the second half.

A final quarter that can only be described as ferocious featured a breath-holding moment for all in attendance as Mark Kovacevic’s snap out of the ruck narrowly avoided going directly over the post.

An umpire conference eventually led to an awarded goal and the day’s final lead change.

Kovacevic was duly nominated as his victorious side’s best player, online and post-match in the eyes of coach Jedd Wright.

“(The season) is not quite done,” Wright said.

“We know we’ve still got a really long way to go, but at this time of year, we’re looking for growth and the boys took a big step today.

“The old cliche is that we didn’t carry any passengers today; Mark was very influential in the ruck and probably best on.

“I thought Harrison Mazzella probably played his best game for the year for us as well.

“They’re still such a young team, and we’ve worked so hard at training in controlling momentum; we’ve been able to do it really well over the last three games, so the belief is starting to grow.”

With Mooroopna’s heavy defeat to Echuca up north, Euroa missed a potential top-four berth for the taking after surrendering a sizeable lead for the second straight week.

The Swans, meanwhile, have worked up a run of form that could have cause to worry the Cats next time out at Princess Park.

“We always tend to match up pretty well with Mooroopna,” Wright said.

“I don’t look into other results too much, but we’re playing an exciting brand and there’s belief now that we can really compete with any team on the day.

“We hold Mooroopna in really high regard and I’d be stupid to look further than one week ahead.

“We’ll have a look at their film and hopefully learn a few things that we can put in place to get over them next week.”

On the other side of the ledger, Pendlebury acknowledges the challenges ahead with the Murray Bombers next on tap at Victoria Park.

“It’s really disappointing to lose when you start so well,” Pendlebury said.

“(The Swans’) intensity went up around the end of the second quarter and they were probably the better team in the second half.

“We’re starting well, which I guess is better to do than the opposite, but we need to keep our intensity.

“Echuca is the best team in the comp, which I don’t think anyone would argue. We’ll be ready for the challenge, but hopefully we can get up next week to keep a buffer on Ky and Mansfield.”