GVL Data | A monstrous Mansfield shift that killed the contest

By Jesse Robertson-Torres

Apr 24, 2024

Getting on the end: Mansfield’s Ben Christopher was a popular target inside 50 during a dominant third term. Photo by Megan Fisher

You had to see it to believe it at Tatura Saturday.

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The Bulldogs’ contest with Mansfield looked every bit one would expect it to be for the first hour of play.

Although names like Aidyn Johnson and Brad Ryan were scratched from the Tatura team sheet at the weekend, a 13-point deficit at the long break was hardly anything to wave the white flag over.

That changed powerfully once they were out of the sheds.

A Mansfield mauling - Q3 v Tatura

Marks inside 50: 9-2

Clearances: 15-4

Inside 50s: 24-3

Scores from stoppages: 7.3 (45) - 0.1 (1)

Contested possessions: 48-19

In only the second Goulburn Valley League fixture with a triple-figure margin for 2024, it’s not hard to see when and where Mansfield stepped it up several notches.

Comparing these numbers to the other 100-plus beating, that being Mooroopna annihilating Benalla, at no point in that game did the Cats come close to Mansfield’s contested numbers.

Jayden Howes led the in-and-under brigade with a swathe of contested touches (eight), also leading all comers in the third term for clearances (five), total disposals (11), ground ball gets (seven) and goal involvements (five).

Proving equally adept in claiming first use of the ball as efficiently driving it on, Howes picked up three inside 50s to go with an already bonkers stat line for one term, with nine of his 11 touches finding the target.

Once the midfielders had put in the work, Ben Christopher and Billy Hogan combined for five marks inside the arc, which was where the likes of Ryan’s absence started to take a severe toll.

It wasn’t that Tatura failed to cope without him initially — the Eagles had just six majors at the main break — but once the pendulum swung, the Bulldogs were helpless down back.

Mansfield’s astonishing scoring efficiency from stoppages in the third term, notching 7.3 from this source, comfortably eclipsed what anyone else put up for the entire game in round three.

The Eagles’ clearance machines in the engine room delivered an inside 50 count in this time that sits head and shoulders above any other side’s best quarter for forward entries this season — with Tatura’s three the lowest recorded this season.

With the three-headed monster of Christopher, Hogan and Nathan Buchanan finding its collective feet in attack, Mansfield sent a well-received warning message to the league with its indomitable pressure after half-time.