In his 150th senior game, Temora defender Liam Pattison directed his team to an important victory against Barellan on Saturday which moved them into third spot on the ladder.
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Barellan kicked only three goals in the first half but still led by 11 points early in the third quarter before Temora got going up forward for a 10.16 (76) to 4.5 (29) win.
The Kangaroos kicked the last eight goals of the game, plus 12 misses after half-time, to prepare themselves for games against top-four teams in the last two rounds.
"We still weren't at our best the way we finished but it was improvement, which was good, because it's finals footy for us from now on, against North Wagga and East Wagga," assistant coach Luke Gerhard said.
He paid tribute to Pattison's performance amid an outstanding season for the full-back.
"It was Patto's 150th first grade game and he was best-on for us. He played really well and was ever-reliable as he always is."
For the second week in a row, forward Jacob Turner missed much of the second half due to tightness in a hamstring.
Barellan's second half was made harder after a calf injury to Sean Ellis.
Gerhard said Barellan had Temora on the hop early at Nixon Park.
"They've got some quality players in their team and we knew that. We had the breeze but came in at quarter-time down. Turnovers hurt us and our commitment for the ball just wasn't there," he said.
"We got a spray off Jake at half-time and started to turn it around. We started to win the footy and went from there."
Will Reinhold and Max Richardson also had big games for Temora across half-back.
Jack Hillman and Matt Irvin led Barellan's efforts along with Ben Maiden, especially in the first half before Jeffery Mannell was assigned the task and limited his second half impact.
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