The contest wasn’t without its challenges for the Magpies, with debutant Anthony Accadia having to be taken off the field in the second quarter after suffering a broken leg.
Off the back of Tom Hawkins’ triumphant return home in round three of Murray Football League, the Cats travelled to Moama Recreation Reserve full of vigour.
Neither team could be separated in the opening quarter, with both sides putting in strong defensive efforts to head into the first break tied at 2.2 apiece.
The Magpies managed to get their nose in front in a shortened second quarter due to the injury to Accadia, with Moama gaining a slim single-point advantage at the major break.
The Magpies found some space in the third term and came out firing, with the first four scores being in favour of the home side and timely goals from Liam Barrett and Khy Stovell.
Up by 11 points heading into the final stretch, Moama’s defence appeared airtight, letting through just four behinds in the fourth quarter.
With neither side able to find a goal throughout the first 14 minutes of the last quarter it was Moama’s experienced coach Barrett who delivered again, drilling the only maximum for the final frame to give the Magpies the win.
Escaping with a 15-point win at home has elevated Moama to 3-1 on the season and a spot in the top four on the ladder, the final score was Moama 6.8 (45) to Finley 4.6 (30).
Barrett reflected on the contest, providing insight into why the game was low scoring as well as an update on Accadia’s injury.
“Outside the injury to Anthony and the wet conditions I think both defences were holding up really well and both teams struggled a little bit with the connections inside 50,” he said.
“We’ve touched base with Anthony and he seems to be in good spirits and he’s heading in for surgery, but from all reports he seems to be okay, it’s just a shame his debut ended like that.”
Barrett also analysed the meaning of getting a win over Finley and his pride in seeing younger players step up in the absence of senior leadership.
“Coming into this week we knew Finley’s team would be a bit different without Tom Hawkins, but we know they are a proud footy club,” he said.
“There was extra motivation for us against them with what happened last year in the prelim final, so we knew it was going to be a good fight and they showed some good glimpses, so it was nice to get the win.
“Our captain and vice-captain were out this week, so it was nice to see some of the other boys step up, it was good to see our younger blokes like Rhys Drennan and Archie Teasdale take another step forward.”
From Barrett’s perspective, he emphasised his pleasure with the team’s performance in 2025, with plenty of development still to come.
“I think being able to get these early wins is encouraging, currently we are showing flashes in games, but we probably aren’t putting a full four-quarter performance together just yet,” he said.
“To be winning games with still so much improvement left in us is good, we are still building connections with new players and there is much more to come.
“It’s nice from a team perspective, we are holding on to leads and finishing the job each week without necessarily playing our best footy.”
Moama will travel to Tongala in round five and will be eyeing another victory to add to the tally, with the Blues having a weaker start to 2025 than expected.
The Game
Scores
Moama: 2.2, 3.3, 5.7, 6.9 (45)
Finley: 2.2, 3.2, 4.2, 4.6 (30)
Goals
Moama: Liam Barrett 2, Lachlan Carmody, Khy Stovell, Fraser Verhey, Jye Warren
Finley: Mitchell Carson 2, Jordan Sykes, Airi Wolff
Best
Moama: Blake Evans, Liam Barrett, Jack Harland, Archie Teasdale, Rhys Drennan, Zac Stovell
Finley: Jordan Daniel, Mitchell Carson, Daniel Obryan, Isaac Lunn, Lachlan Hawkins, Airi Wolff
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