Echuca’s senior side has its eyes firmly set on a historic feat that the club is yet to achieve during its time in the GVL.

Winning three premierships in as many years is one of the most challenging tasks in football and any sport.

In the GVL’s 130-year history, only 10 sides have completed a treble, the most recent being Seymour’s dominant run in the mid-2000s from 2006 to 2008.

Two sides have won four in a row, Rushworth (1930-1933) and Shepparton (1963-1966), but we’ll put a pin in that exclusive club for now.

If the Murray Bombers were to win it all again this year, they would remain the only side in the GVL to have won this decade. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Echuca has been the flag favourite since the start of the 2024 season, boasting an almost impeccable 17-1 record and a 237.36 percentage.

The one smudge on an otherwise perfect season came in round five against Rochester, when the Murray Bombers lost to their arch-rivals by 13 points.

They won only one game by less than 20 points, and that was in round three against Mooroopna.

Outside of that, their margin of victory has been big. Throughout the season and in finals, Echuca has won by an average of 63.7 points per game.

Regardless of the league’s history and Echuca’s season record, these statistics are arbitrary because anything can happen in a one-off match where the stakes are at their highest.

Realistically, Shepparton Bears are the worthiest opponent to face Echuca at the big dance. Rochester may have bested them in round five, but they didn’t hold up in the following contests.

The Bears haven’t caused Echuca a whole lot of trouble either, except for a first-half scare in the qualifying final.

Yet, the Bears and Murray Bombers finished with the same season record, with only percentage splitting the two. They have been the clear-cut one and two all season, so it seems only fitting for a final duel to determine the GVL champions.

Coach Simon Maddox touched on the side’s preparations for the grand final, emphasising how vital a week’s rest had been for the players to perform at the highest level.

“Preparations have been good; having the week off has given us time to check out what happened on the weekend between Rochester and Shepparton Bears and deal with any niggles or injuries,” he said.

“It’s been a good opportunity for the boys to rest up, so I can’t fault our preparation.

“We trained well last week, and as a group on Saturday, we had 71 players there, which shows the group’s hunger.”

Maddox mentioned that the side’s primary issue heading into the grand final was narrowing down its playing side for the match.

“Everyone is fit and raring to go; the biggest problem we are going to have is figuring out what our 22 is going to be,” he said.

“We’ve used 39 players this year, so we’ll have five or six boys that will be incredibly stiff to miss out.”

Maddox said that Shepparton’s Bears side was too good to focus on eliminating their key players, and the Murray Bombers were solely focused on executing their strategy.

A particularly interesting match-up awaits between the two sides’ ruckmen: Echuca captain Kane Morris and 2024 Morrison Medallist Ash Holland.

“Our attitude is that if we can get our backyard right, that goes a long way in winning the footy. Shepp Bears have good players all over the ground, Smith, De Cicco, Stephenson and Holland,” he said.

“Shepp has too many good players to worry about cutting one or two of them down. We’ll just nail our own game plan, and if we can do that, we are confident we can get it done.

“Holland and Morris in the ruck is always an intriguing battle, and whoever wins could go a long way in deciding the game.

“I’m pretty sure every time Holland and Morris have locked horns, they’ve been named the best player for their respective sides.”

Maddox said the senior side’s primary motivation was the possibility of making history for Echuca Football Club, but they were aware that anything is possible on grand final day.

“(The treble) is in the back of our minds; it’s never been done by our club before, so it’s a motivating factor, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“Numerous times throughout the season and in finals, we’ve had the opportunity to create some history, so it’s a big motivation, but at the end of the day, it’s one game of footy, so anything can happen.”

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Thursday, 1st August 2024

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