After a long and gruelling off-season, Goulburn Valley League football makes its mighty return this weekend.
The action returns on Good Friday with two bumper contests at Benalla Showgrounds and Deakin Reserve respectively.
The sports desk has spoken to the coaches and got their thoughts ahead of round one.
Mansfield coach: Chad Owens
“Euroa will definitely bring physicality to the contest. They are hard at it, but they’re also a really skilful side with plenty of run.
“We won’t go in at full-strength. Frazer (Dale) misses through suspension and Tas Clingan isn’t right to go yet after a bit of a delayed start to pre-season.
“(Will Hayes) I haven’t seen him play since he was on the TV, but he’s going to be super for them and he dominated in a praccy match against Wang Rovers. It won’t be easy, but we’re worried about their entire midfield not just one player.”
Euroa coach: Scott Rowan:
“We bring in three new faces to the side which is exciting. Young Ryan Hill gets his opportunity. He’s bottom-age 18s and he’s worked hard on things he needed too after he missed out on Bushies and it’s great to see his development.
“Jack Christie and Nick Bourke come to the club for their first games. Jack’s a smaller defender who can go forward, while Nick is a quick forward. Jake Penman is back as well after a few years at Port Melbourne Colts.
“We know (Mansfield at Mansfield) is a massive challenge ... Lachie Dale is a gun player and we know we’ll need to be on our game.”
Shepparton United coach: Duane Hueston
“Last year we had one win and were on the bottom of the ladder, so we’ve got a lot of hard work to do.
“We’ve got to take every opposition the best possible way and prepare knowing that we’ve got to win one on one contests and play our game of footy.
“During the game they’ll get momentum, and that’s something we’ve worked on – how do we stop opposition momentum so they don’t hurt us and we don’t get blown out of a game.
“I expect Shepp to be a well-drilled side. They’ve got some great players in there and some great leadership as well, so our group is really looking forward to starting and where we’re at after the pre-season.”
Tatura coach: Paul Barnard
“The enormity of the occasion isn’t lost on us.
“We go over to Echuca, up against the reigning premier and we know we’re going to get a pretty good audit from them. But the boys are excited to get out there. We’re all positively nervous.
“We have nine new faces in our 22 which brings plenty of optimism. We’ve recruited in the areas we felt we needed depth and we’ve made ground in areas we lacked in.”
Mooroopna coach: John Lamont
“I was very impressed with the Swans when we played them in the latter part of last season.
“Their ball movement, their speed, their attack on the footy was really impressive. They have some really talented kids.
“It will be a pretty even contest, I reckon.
“We have a few injuries. But we still have 22 blokes out there and I am looking for a really good attitude in defence, that will be the main thing I am looking for in round one.
Shepparton Swans coach: Jedd Wright
“I am expecting huge things from Mooroopna. They have probably had the best recruiting off-season out of the clubs. I really think they are a top three team.
“For us, I hope that the hard work we have put in shows on game day. We are confident with the work that we have done that we are ready to put in a good showing.
“We have four or five out this week but we are really confident with the team we take in that we can put in a really good showing. Sam Wright will miss this week, but Jamie Macmillan and Nathan Hrovat will play.
“We are young, we are fit, we are quick, I really want to see us run and carry the footy and not be afraid to take risks.”
Kyabram coach: Paul Newman
“It’s our cross-town rival so they’re always good games, they’re always physical games.
“I’m expecting a good hit-out, both teams are probably not going to be firing on all cylinders this early in the season, so it’s just important for us that we start well enough and try and bank some points early in the season.
“We’re not far off; we’ve got a few out. Rhys Clark is starting next week, Zac Keogh will start a bit later and Brad Mangan is still a little bit away with his knee reconstruction.”
Seymour coach: Ben Davey
“(Benalla) I’m definitely expecting a massive challenge. I would be seeing them as red-hot to play finals this year.
“They’re not flying under the radar at all, for me.
“They’ve just taken a starting midfielder out of the VFL straight into the GVL – Nick Mellington, he’s a super player.
“I did a bit of work with him at the Bushrangers, he was very stiff not to get drafted in his top-age year.
“(We’re) under absolutely no illusion that they’ll have a red-hot midfield.
Rochester coach: Ash Watson
“Ky are a fantastic side; I highly respect Ky and have for a long time. They’ve recruited really well, so I think they’ll be at the pointy end this year.
“For our side of it, it’s more about the community connection with everything that’s happened in Rochy over the last while, six months ago was the flood and the club’s been pretty positive with our community connection that we’ve been doing so far.
“It’s going to be a fantastic occasion; Easter weekend playing against Ky who throughout the floods were fantastic for our town including the footy club, so it’s pretty fitting that we’re playing against Ky this weekend and it’ll be really good for our community to get together this weekend socially as well.”
Echuca co-coach: Simon Maddox
“We've got a few boys off trying their hand at VFL football, so at times that might leave a couple of holes in our line-up, but we've got a very similar side to last year.
“We're just as hungry as ever. It took us 20 years to win the senior premiership, we hadn't won one since 2002 and then we win 2022, so we definitely don't want to wait another 20 years.”