FAST FACTS >> JOINED LEAGUE: 1909-1942, 1974 - PRESENT NICKNAME: MURRAY BOMBERS HOME GROUND: VICTORIA PARK COACHES: SIMON MADDOX, LEO TENACE AND CAMERON VALENTINE PRESIDENT: JUSTIN HATFIELD PREMIERSHIPS: 1977, 1979, 2001, 2002, 2022, 2023, 2024 MORRISON MEDALLISTS: S.EISHOLD (1995 JOINT), S. ORR (1997), C.SHOLL (2001), R. ARCHARD (2003 JOINT), C. DURIE (2006), K. HEIGHT (2010), S. BUCKLEY (2016-17) 2024 FINISH: PREMIER (20-1) 2024 BEST AND FAIREST: JACK MCHALE 2024LEADING GOAL KICKER: LIAM TENACE (36)
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PLAYER CHANGES
INS: Lachlan Hogan (Moama), Mitchell Bell (Moama), Josh Hoffman (Numurkah)
OUTS: Matt Lias (Echuca United), Callum Parsons (Echuca United), Logan Prout (Carlton VFL), Daniel Willis
On the back of an emphatic and history-making grand final victory over Shepparton Bears in 2024, Echuca are now three-peat champions, joining rarefied air as one of the greatest and most successful teams ever to play in the GVL.
Yet, for its run at a record-equalling fourth title in-a-row, Echuca has decided to zag away from an established team and inject its outfit with youthful exuberance.
Veteran coach Simon Maddox and new coaching group members Leo Tenace and Cameron Valentine are willing to give playing opportunities to Echuca’s talented youngsters and inject a slightly new flavour into the well-oiled green machine.
“We are quite young this time around, we have a few boys coming up from last year’s under-18’s premiership side,” said Maddox
“There will be opportunities for those guys that may have missed out on selection last year and have been knocking on the door, so that's great.
“It’s exciting to see such good young talent coming through and we’ve got 8-10 kids coming up from our under-18’s side that’re hungry and pushing for selection.”
Echuca has always had an ‘us against the world’ approach to how it conducts business and has proved it is a winning method with unprecedented success across all football grades so far this decade.
Maddox spoke about Echuca’s recent pre-season meetings and feeling around not just the senior team, but the club as a whole, emphasising the never-ending pursuit of football perfection.
“The feeling around the team is great, few teams win three in a row and it is very rare for a team to get four so we will try and get back and clean sweep the under-18’s, reserves and seniors again,” he said.
“We’ve got our training camp coming up so we will be able to see how we are faring and have a big chat to the group about what we need to work on.
“We are just looking to hone in on our game plan, our defensive press and making sure our young guys are up to speed with what we do, there are always things to improve and new skills to learn.”
