Burns on fire again as Mathoura picks up important points

“He’s a beautiful kick of the footy,” Mathoura co-coach Tim McCormick said.

“If he can get his hands on it early and take a couple of clean marks, we know he’s on for a pretty good day, so it’s all about then trying to get the ball to him in good positions but it doesn't matter sometimes where he is.

“He kicks them from both sides of the ground and from tight angles and from 45 to 50 out, so he’s a class act, that’s for sure.”

Mathoura made a quick start to the contest, jumping out to a 4.2 (26) to 1.1 (7) lead by quarter-time.

Performing well early was a key focus area for the coaching staff after the Cutters made slow starts in their losses this season.

“After the win we had the week before by 190-odd points, we were a bit concerned whether the boys were switched on or not, but we wanted to make a real focus of the first contest, everyone winning their first contest against their opponent,” McCormick said.

“We thought if we got that one under the belt then away we go and that proved to be the case so there was a focus on trying to start as best we could.

“Against a couple of the other better sides that we played so far, our starts have been pretty ordinary and we’ve been on the back foot by quarter-time so it was really pleasing to get out of the blocks well.”

The 19-point quarter-time advantage set the platform for the Cutters, who extended the lead to 36 by the major break.

Deni Rovers didn’t go away and actually won the second half 42-34, but the damage had been done by Mathoura, who claimed its third win of the year.

Along with Burns’ eight-goal performance, Lachlan Carmody and Corey Farrell added two goals each for Mathoura, while Clinton Atkinson and Stuart Day each contributed one.

The Cutters are set up well for a much improved performance from last season where they managed just four wins.

“We’re very happy at the moment,” McCormick said of the team’s early form.

“Possibly we were hoping to be a little bit better against Picola (United) first up and if that had been the case would have been possibly 4-1.

“We’ll reassess now and look at the draw going forward and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t eclipse our four wins from last year.”

Next week Mathoura will travel to Berrigan, who is also 3-2 so far in 2024.

“They’ve been a bit up and down but on their home track they’re always very hard to beat up there at Berrigan, so we’ll need to be at our best,” McCormick said.

“Fingers crossed we’ll have one or two inclusions that were missing on the weekend to strengthen us a little bit more, and we’ll give it our best for sure, but once again, it’ll need that good start.

“We can’t afford to be on the back foot playing away from home.”

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The Cutters were unable to match undefeated Deni Rovers, who remained atop the table after a 58-16 victory.

Mathoura is now 2-3 for the year, having alternated wins and losses over the first five rounds.

Next weekend’s match against 1-4 Berrigan shapes as an opportunity to return to winning ways.