Wheat and chaff firmly separated ahead of finals in Kyabram District League football

A two-game gap with enormous percentage in between separates seventh-placed Tallygaroopna from eighth-ranked Merrigum, effectively shutting the bottom half out of any serious tilt at finals.

There remains precious little separating the three sides gunning for a double chance come finals time, though.

Although Murchison-Toolamba, Lancaster and Shepparton East headed home with four more points in Saturday’s action, the degrees of difficulty varied greatly.

The Eagles had by far the most difficult task in taking on 2023 runners-up Nagambie at Central Park.

Shepparton East’s four straight first-quarter behinds would have inspired little confidence in a muddy and challenging environment.

Much like the Western Bulldogs on Saturday, though, the string of blown early chances served as the motive to sharpen decision-making around the goals in the following two terms to storm over the top of the Lakers.

Six behinds in a row in the final term would have left hearts in throats, to be sure, but the final siren released concerned onlookers from their agony with Shepparton East notching win number 10 for the year, 5.15 (45) to 5.4 (34).

Eagles coach Dwain Vidler was relieved to get the four points on a tough slog of an afternoon.

“It got a bit slippery, but it was good to get over the line in a tight game,” Vidler said.

“We probably missed some easy chances in the first quarter, and that could easily have been four goals instead.

“Nagambie’s a pretty handy side, so we probably put ourselves under more pressure that way and had to straighten ourselves up, especially around the forward line.”

Ben McCluskey’s two goals were the only multiple contribution in a dour affair for Shepparton East, while Nagambie’s five majors were split between Trent Gladwin (three) and Zac Winter-Irving (two).

“You only get so many shots against a decent side, and you have to make them count,” Vidler said.

“We got lucky in that the backline held up their end of the bargain stopping a lot of the ball that Nagambie brought back.

“We worked so hard to get the ball down there to try and take our chances.”

Awaiting this week is a mouth-watering affair with Murchison-Toolamba, where some jostling is finally likely within the impenetrable top three.

James Lloyd’s century coronation looks every chance, having moved to 97 after a haul of six against Avenel.

“We’ll worry about what we can control and try and make sure we’re in the right frame of mind to give ourselves the best chance (next week),” Vidler said.

“Like all good forwards, James might be difficult to stop as he’s probably the best forward in the comp.

“It’s probably about what we can do before the ball can get to him, rather than worrying about stopping his goals.”

On that note, while Lloyd will have to wait at least another week to crown himself the likely third country footballer to 100 goals in 2024, he proved as dominant a force as ever as Murchison-Toolamba moved at Stanhope’s expense, winning 17.16 (118) to 6.2 (38).

Lancaster completed the top team trilogy in relatively comfortable fashion away at Avenel, powering on to win 17.9 (111) to 8.5 (53) off the back of Paul Newman’s four majors and freezing the fourth-placed Swans out of any major challenge to the leading sides.

As mentioned, there exists a huge chasm between Tallygaroopna and Merrigum just outside of finals places after the Redlegs overpowered the Bulldogs at home, 12.13 (85) to 8.6 (54).

Rushworth completed a memorable fourth win of 2024 in a rare blitz, completely shutting down Violet Town in a 28.19 (187) to 3.10 (28) victory as 12 individual goal-kickers found the big sticks.

Longwood completely turned around a tight first half against winless Undera to stroll home with ease in a 12.12 (84) to 4.5 (29) victory, while Girgarre enjoyed some success in moving to 3-8 courtesy of an 11.12 (78) to 8.5 (53) win over Dookie United.