GVL Data | How Euroa big man Andrew Smith turned a grand final

Euroa needed somebody to stand up and take the game by the scruff of the neck, or be destined to yet another 10-goal loss at the hands of Echuca.

And, as he has done so often in the past two seasons, reigning best-and-fairest Andrew Smith answered the call.

Looking at Smith’s statistics from the match, he produced about as complete a performance you are likely to see from a ruckman.

The big man racked up 19 disposals, five marks (three contested), 23 hit-outs, a game-high eight clearances, four tackles, four inside 50s and a goal to be arguably the best player on the ground.

But it was in the second half where he really rose to the occasion.

Beginning up forward, Smith would bring the Magpies crowd to life, taking a huge contested mark and goaling early in the third term to swing the momentum in Euroa’s favour.

Riding a wave of confidence, the big man would take his dominance into the middle, winning two vital centre clearances in the third term and getting on top in the ruck battle against Murray Bombers skipper Kane Morris.

The ruckman’s exploits put Euroa in a position where it was in the game at three-quarter time and at the start of the last quarter the rest of his teammates got in on the act, as it piled on four quick goals to soar into the lead.

With Smith at the forefront, the key indicators all swung in Euroa’s favour in the final term, as it won contested possessions by three, hit-outs by seven and clearances by three.

This allowed the Magpies to get their devastating running game going, winning uncontested possessions by 13, handball receives by 15 and inside 50s by three.

Although they couldn’t quite get the job done in the finish, the efforts of Smith and his Magpies teammates will forever go down in Euroa folklore, as it almost did the impossible and toppled the Echuca juggernaut.