Sport

Mattingly magic to return

By Gus Underwood

Aug 5, 2025

Kyabram's Mick Mattingly is set to return this weekend. Photo: Bruce Povey

Kyabram will have premier player Mick Mattingly returning for its much-anticipated Goulburn Valley League4 clash with Mansfield at Mansfield on Saturday.

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But key defender Jason Morgan is in doubt for what is expected to be the toughest test to date for the Bombers to remain undefeated.

Morgan has missed the past two games with a slight Achilles strain which is healing more slowly than hoped.

Mattingly also has taken no risks with a hamstring twinge in the Benalla game, but has rested up and is fit to continue his stellar season.

But a return date to the playing arena of two other Kyabram guns, defender Brad Whitford and goal-kicking forward Anthony Depasquale, are clouded at this stage.

Depasquale, who cracked a vertebrae in the Benalla game, is due to have updated scans of the injury and is still hopeful of playing finals.

Whitford’s recovery from a hamstring pull, also sustained in the Benalla game, is also serious enough to keep him sidelined up until finals at the best.

The Bombers’ undefeated run this season is expected to receive a serious challenge from Mansfield.

The Eagles are a certainty for finals and are one of four teams which have extended the Bombers but not beaten them this season.

In their earlier season clash at Kyabram, Mansfield held a seven-point break on the Bombers at three-quarter time, but the home side rallied to kick 6.1 to 3.4 in the last term to get up and win by 20 points.

So Saturday’s clash looks to be a mouth-waterer for those Ky fans intending to make the long trip to the High Country.

Kyabram’s under-16 side got the measure of Shepparton Swans after a slow start in their Goulburn Murray Junior League clash at Princess Park, Shepparton on Sunday.

The Swans had their beaks in front at quarter-time but the Bombers got things on their terms from then on through the efforts of Mitch Wilson, James Priest and Paddy Westerveld in particular. They got great support from Ben Chapman and Sam Bruhn.