Action aplenty in Goulburn Valley League A-grade round eight

Shepparton Swans and Kyabram went at it on the courts of Princess Park, with the home side in need of the four points to maintain parity, while the visitors have been gunning for a win of any kind.

Ultimately, five out of six games carried double-figure margins, with Natasha Atkinson-Brown’s 34 goals accounting for the whole Bombers side in a powerful 70-33 victory to square the Swans’ ledger at 4-4.

Tatura Park undoubtedly witnessed the round’s premier affair, though, as the Bulldogs welcomed Shepparton in a top-four clash.

The Bulldogs established a handy early advantage, running over the top with the game’s first five goals and holding that margin through to quarter-time.

Both sides rang the changes throughout the second term, but Julia Clarke’s prominence up front for Tatura was the one constant.

It’s been a good time to be Clarke after her late call-up to the GVL Open interleague team last weekend, and the good form well and truly continued against top opposition.

Up by 10 at the half, Tatura appeared destined to keep the Bears at arm’s length for the remainder, with the margin only briefly closing to eight before Clarke steadied it at the end of the term.

Kim Borger proved anything but a pushover at the other end, reaching the 30-goal plateau with moments left in the game, but the Bulldogs had enough early runs on the board to happily trade through much of the second half and run out 54-44 winners.

Post-match, Tatura star Elsie Boyer was thrilled to knock over the Bears in relative comfort.

“We knew it was going to be a really big game coming in. We knew we had to put goals on the board early,” Boyer said.

“We did a really great job across the court of stopping the ball from getting down the other way easily.

“Julia’s in some great form; she’s reliable and we’ve spoken about her confidence at the post, which is something we love about her.

“She’s unbelievable with the way she turns and shoots and we’re really lucky to have her on our team.”

Despite the huge implications behind this clash, which move the Bulldogs to outright third at 6-2 while the Bears sank to the fringes of finals places at sixth and 5-3, Boyer dropped a surprising revelation.

“I think we’re focusing a lot on the process; for me personally, I haven’t looked at the ladder, but I know we’re amongst it,” Boyer said.

“We’ve finished our first block of the year and we’re tracking really nicely in our second now, so it’s really pleasing to get that win.”

Without looking at the table, though, the looming threat posed by Echuca this week needs no introduction.

Boyer and her squad are well aware of the task ahead.

“Echuca is always awesome. You always go in expecting a good game and our focus will be on just riding the waves,” Boyer said.

“We’ll have some focuses about executing the basic skills and hopefully that holds us in good stead for a win.”

Speaking of winning, that’s all Euroa continues to do up the top of the table.

Heavy favourites against the winless Mansfield, Olivia Morris returned to her regular service after missing interleague through injury in a crushing 74-33 Magpies win.

Mooroopna had much more of a scrappy fight on its hand, crossing the Midland Hwy to overcome Shepparton United in a low-scoring, yet vital, 34-26 victory.

Meanwhile, Echuca continued the trend of pre-match favourites taking care of business, accounting for winless Benalla 45-26.

Seymour, despite still carrying a game in hand, claimed the final top four spot for now by dispatching Rochester 59-44, setting up a monster south side clash with Euroa this week.