Dominant, ruthless, commanding, imposing — there is no shortage of superlatives to describe Echuca’s performance on Saturday as it blitzed Euroa by 74 points at Mansfield Recreation Reserve to secure a place in the 2022 Goulburn Valley League grand final.
In what was their second imposing statement in as many weeks, the Murray Bombers operated like a well-oiled machine — booting seven of the first eight goals to open up a sizeable early lead, before ending proceedings with seven straight majors to clinch the 18.18 (126) to 8.4 (52) triumph.
And whether it was the dominance of Ruory Kirkby up forward — who kicked six goals — Andrew Walker, Ben Reid and Jack McHale through the midfield, or the constant pressure of the unassuming Jack Evans and Riley Smith, every man donning the Echuca jumper played their part to see it to such a strong victory.
Putting itself in perfect position to break its 20-year premiership drought, Echuca co-coach Simon Maddox said it was a near perfect performance from his team as it continues to approach its peak.
“It is a bit of a relief more than anything (to be through to the grand final), you come today to a big final hoping you will bring your best footy, so to actually do it is very satisfying,” Maddox said.
“Besides from maybe our kicking on goal, we executed every other aspect of our game today and it was beautiful to watch.
“Our press was at is absolute finest, we won the midfield battle, used the ball well coming out of our midfield and if you bring that to a final you will win more often than you lose.
“So given the stakes of the game and how we handled it, I’d say that was our best performance of the season.”
As grey clouds descended on the High Country, Echuca ensured the less-than-perfect conditions didn’t stifle its game-style, picking up where it left off against Mansfield the previous week with a dominant first term.
Sending the ball into its attacking 50 at will, the likes of Kirkby, Daniel Willis and Angus Byrne were able to feast, as the Murray Bombers piled on five first-quarter goals to open up an imposing 27-point quarter-time left.
And they were only just getting started.
With all the momentum at their backs, the boys in green and white would pile on another two majors to extend the break past 45 points early in the second, with murmurings of a triple-figure victory beginning to fester through the crowd.
But to the Magpies’ credit, they would manage to get their game rolling to an extent towards the end of the second term, as 100-gamer Jett Trotter got busy to inspire two quick goals as the margin shrank to 32 at the main change.
Needing a massive third term to get back into the contest, Euroa would up its intensity after half-time, with the likes of Ben Giobbi, Jack Hellier and Andrew Bell starting to get their hands on the footy.
However, it seemed whenever the Magpies would look like seriously challenging, Echuca had the perfect response, with clutch set shots from Kirkby, Byrne and Evans allowing it to steady the tide and maintain a 35-point buffer at three-quarter time.
A fourth goal to Trotter early in the final term would give Euroa the slightest hint of a comeback as the margin reduced to five majors.
But as all champion sides do, the Murray Bombers snuffed out the Magpie cause right away, sending a major statement to their fellow premiership contenders with seven straight goals to blow the margin out to a whopping 74 points by the final siren.
Star on-baller Jack McHale will come under match review panel scrutiny in the lead up to the grand final, after a collision with Euroa’s Max Gleeson had the Magpies defender leave the field with concussion.
But for Maddox and the entire Echuca Football Netball Club, this grand final appearance is some three years in the making, after it fell to Kyabram in the GVL’s last decider in 2019.
“We lost to Ky, that was the last grand final we were in and we never really fired a shot or challenged them,” he said.
“So we haven’t had a chance at redemption for that day until now, and for a lot of our guys they played in that grand final and it has been a long wait.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position to get what we think we deserve, but the three years will count for nothing if we don’t get it done in two weeks’ time.”