It was a game that both teams would have circled from the moment the Goulburn Valley League fixture came out – a grand final rematch between Echuca and Euroa.
Exactly 251 days since their last meeting with the premiership on the line, the Murray Bombers and Magpies faced off again on Saturday.
And just like it did in the last game of the season, it was Echuca that prevailed after defeating the Magpies by nine points in a contested slog at Euroa’s Memorial Oval.
Euroa came the closest of any team yet to knocking off the undefeated Bottle Greens, but the reigning premiers showcased their steely determination to eke out a gritty 6.11 (47) to 5.8 (38) victory.
With one point the margin at three-quarter time, Echuca’s 2.4 to Euroa’s 1.2 in the final stanza earned the Murray Bombers their eighth straight victory to start 2023.
Euroa coach Scott Rowan said he was surprised at how tight and low scoring the encounter was.
“It was a real arm wrestle,” Rowan said.
“I didn’t quite expect it to be that in tight, real territory kind of game, I thought it might break open in the second half.
“To both sides’ credit, the pressure was there and it was just a really good game of footy to watch.
“It was just a real contested footy game with lots of stoppages. It was an energy-sapping, good contest.”
The two sides were neck-and-neck throughout the entirety of the encounter, trading almost identical scorelines through the opening three terms.
Both sides kicked two goals in the opening quarter, before they each held one another goalless in the second term.
Euroa and Echuca then added two majors apiece in the third term, before the latter was finally able to nose away in the final quarter with two goals to one.
Although disappointed with the result, Rowan spoke highly of the way his side went about things on Saturday, saying the performance could be the one that kick-starts Euroa’s season.
“The positive out of the day was our effort, we never gave up,” Rowan said.
“We had them on toast, we probably didn’t get reward for our effort in the first couple of quarters. They got a couple of goals from our mistakes, which happens.
“We were happy that for the first time this year we put four quarters of effort in.
“The tackle pressure was there. I thought our pressure around the ball was really good, that was our main goal going in.
“I thought our ball movement was pretty good, which we have been focusing on during the week as well. I was pleased with the way we went, just unfortunately we didn’t quite get the chocolates.
“It was good to have a real battle and hopefully that will be the launch to our season.”
The fact that Saturday’s clash was a rematch of last year’s finale would have been impossible for either team to ignore.
But Rowan said the grand final was far from a main focus in the lead-up to the game.
“It was mentioned for the first time at three-quarter time on Saturday afternoon,” he said.
“It really wasn’t in our minds ... we really didn’t focus on it at all coming into the game as a group, that’s for sure.
“It is the boys’ pride in themselves that they love to get up for those sorts of games. They know that Echuca is the benchmark of the competition.
“We have points to prove and we didn’t quite get there, but internally we were pretty happy with the way we think we went about it. The good thing is there is still improvement to be had.”
The closeness of the encounter was reflected in the stats, with the tallies for total disposals, clearances, marks and hit-outs all almost identical.
But Echuca had the edge when attacking the contest, collecting more hardball gets (57 to 25), tackles (56 to 42) and pressure acts (45 to 34).
The Magpies had five individual goal-kickers, while Echuca’s Corbin Anderson was the only player to collect multiple majors for the game with two.
Will Hayes had 31 possessions for Euroa ( 19 kicks, 12 handballs), with six clearances and seven inside 50s, while Ryan Pendlebury’s efforts earned Rowan’s praise.
“I thought Pendle’s had one of his better games across half-back,” Rowan said.
“Our captain Jacob Gleeson was fantastic through the middle, Haysey (Will Hayes) is always very good.”
Jack McHale led the way for Echica with 26 disposals (14 kicks, 12 handballs), while Sam Reid was a beast at the coalface with 16 contested posessions and 12 clearances