If there’s been one massive improver to emerge in the first quarter of the O&K season, look no further than Moyhu’s senior football squad.

The Hoppers sit at the head of the pack, ladder leaders with a 4-1 record and a series of formerly unprecedented scalps to their name after the first five matches.

Moyhu managed to knock off last year’s runners up Greta by 39 points in round two, and hammered the much-touted Whorouly by 42 points in round four, with their only loss coming from the first match of the year.

All this coming from a side which finished eighth, eighth, and sixth over the last three seasons - the Hoppers are finally here.

Coach Darren Bell has overseen the transformation from a mid-table, hot-and-cold outfit to one of the early finals contenders over the last four seasons, and said the growth on display from his side was exceptional to see.

“We just persevered with the young players in the four years, now it’s starting to come to fruition,” he said.

“The growth within the group from last year to this year has just been huge from nearly every player, it just makes it exciting.

“We’re starting to trust each other and realise we all don’t have to run to the ball at the same time, learn those sort of patterns.

“It’s seemed to come together quickly in the end, but there were good signs last year we showed, we just didn’t have the depth and once we got injuries and we lost games we were in, we just couldn’t finish off.

“We knew we had a challenging start to the first six-game block we had this year, playing the top four in the finals last year, we thought let’s hit it head on and made sure we had a decent preseason and set up the way we want to play.

“At the moment, all the challenges which have come our way, we’ve hit them head on.”

The Hoppers’ engine room has been humming over the first five matches, with stars like Paddy McNamara, Bailey Zimmermann, Matt Thrum and George Hearn hitting their straps through the midfield.

Bell said the side’s midfield depth had been expanding over the seasons, and was starting to present genuine challenges to the rest of the league.

“We‘ve got a bit more cover now,” he said.

“We’ve got other younger boys going through the middle to give them a bit of the taste so we’ve got that midfield depth which we’ve seen over previous years the better teams have usually got.

“We knew we had to go in the first three rounds without Paddy, and we weren’t overly impressed with how we presented against Milawa in round one, but I think that might’ve been the shot in the arm for us all to get it right against Greta the next week.

“I’m really impressed with how we’ve taken our opportunities when they come.”

The Hoppers will be licking their lips and eyeing another major scalp when they welcome reigning premiers Bright to Moyhu this weekend.

“We’ll see what Bright presents this week, they’ve got some really good players – even though they’ve lost a couple [players], they’ve got some really gun players we’ve got to take a look at,” Bell said.

“Hopefully we can get it on our terms a little bit which we’re starting to do a bit in games.

“Like I said to the boys, we’re not too worried about the scoreboard during the day, it’s about how we go about it, take each challenge on each quarter, getting the balance right.”

Elsewhere, an interesting match looms at the North Wangaratta Recreation Reserve where the Hawks will take on Greta.

In a reversal from previous years, North will enter the contest as slight favourites, having only dropped a single match so far and fresh off a defensive showcase which saw them only give up a single goal against Milawa.

Greta has the firepower and the willpower to inflict damage on the scoreboard, with big Harry Moran currently leading the goalkicking charts with 28 snags.

In other matches, Milawa is at home to Bonnie Doon, King Valley heads to Goorambat, and Tarrawingee host Whorouly.