There’s a phrase often spoken in football, “season on the line stuff”.

It’s a term thrown about by coaches, commentators and fans on the sidelines to acknowledge acts of desperation in a football game.

A chase down tackle that saves a certain goal, a smother that prevents an offensive transition, a lunging body spoil that clears the defensive 50.

Desperate acts full of resilience, courage, footy smarts, or all of the above, even if the season isn’t actually on the line, it’s these moments that footy lovers reflect on, knowing if their team’s year ever hung in the balance, they could rely on their players to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the opposition when that season-altering moment comes.

That’s what came to be on Saturday for Tongala when the club trailed by 33 points at half-time against Echuca United in Murray Football League.

Both sides entered the game with four wins to their name, but remained only two wins outside the top six, with a loss to effectively end finals aspiration ahead of the last month of action.

While it remains mathematically possible the loser of Saturday’s contest could ascend to the top six of the ladder, it would require a mere miracle to win its final four encounters, gain a healthy percentage boost and hope other results fall their way.

While the Blues established a one-goal advantage at the quarter-time break, the Eagles burst out the huddle with a re-energised attack on the football, delivering six goals to zip in a period of pure dominance.

The 39 to zero period left a gaping margin between the home side and Echuca United and, as the Blues ventured to the rooms at the half, the season on the line approach kicked in.

“We were getting beaten in the centre, the first half we were second to the ball,” Tongala coach Stephen Hammond said.

“I kept the same line-up into the third quarter and just had faith in the boys and gave them the opportunity to turn it around themselves, which they did.

“It was unreal by the boys, the fightback they did.”

In a complete reversal of the second term, Tongala swung unstoppable momentum in its favour, delivering five knockout blows of its own to the Eagles’ two behinds.

However, Echuca United still led at the three-quarter time break by two points, albeit with everything going against it.

It’s why Tongala was able to snap up another major one minute into the final term to secure its first lead since quarter-time and erase the 33-point margin that towered over it hardly a quarter ago.

The Blues’ Kyle Fitzgerland and Jack Hammond tallied another two on the board in rapid succession and the game suddenly seemed to be slipping away from Echuca United.

Trailing by 17 points without any momentum in their favour, you would be forgiven for thinking the Eagles would finally relent, but no such thing occurred.

Instead, Anthony McMahon and Oliver Poole combined for two goals in a three-minute window, before Liam Gundry swooped in and kicked a goal 22 minutes into the final term.

The Eagles had hit the front and now the Blues were searching for a hero all over again.

But two minutes later, Matthew Caia stepped up to the plate.

Delivering the final goal for the match, Caia slotted a red time major in the dying stages to secure an emphatic result for Tongala.

With a tough run home, the Blues’ finals hopes may be slim, but the round 14 result means anything is possible.

“I was disappointed more than a month or so ago, but sitting back and seeing what our list is, I’ve mellowed a bit to go ‘well, we’re actually not doing too bad for the cattle that are missing’,” Hammond said.

“Give credit where credit’s due, the boys are having a go, which is good.

“If we’d kicked more accurately this season, we’d have another four wins on the board.

“I’m not saying we’re good enough to be in the top four, but we might have been pushing for sixth.

“We're always hoping to win, of course.

“The next two weeks, if we can play our best footy, we might be able to push Cobram and Moama.

“If the boys get in first, we might be able to upset someone in the last four rounds.”

Across the landscape, Nathalia recorded a 17-point boilover against second-placed Moama, while Barooga fell nine points short of a maiden 2025 victory against Deniliquin.

Congupna and Cobram scored 76 and 133-point blowout victories against Rumbalara and Finley, as Mulwala defeated Numurkah by 26 points.

Percentage separates sixth through eighth on the ladder, while Tongala in ninth is one game off the pace, leaving the battle for the final position in September a wide open race.

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Tuesday, 1st August 2023

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