Littered with stars on every line, an attacking game style and a hunger to break a 28-year premiership drought, Euroa comes into season 2022 with a point to prove.
Sitting in second spot by percentage when the COVID-19 pandemic brought last season to an abrupt halt, the Magpies did not rest on their laurels, hitting the recruiting market hard to bring in the talent they needed to take that all-important next step.
Lauded as one of the pre-season flag fancies, the time is now for Euroa to deliver on the field, and it all starts with an intriguing clash against Mansfield on its Memorial Oval home deck.
“Everyone is pretty excited to get back out there with last year being cut short and undergoing a big block of pre-season training,” Euroa coach Scott Rowan said.
“We are expecting a decent crowd to roll in (to Memorial Oval) and there is plenty of excitement rolling through the club and the town.
“Obviously there is a bit of expectation there as well, but we aren’t buying into that side of it, for us it will just be great to have footy back at Euroa again.”
Easily the competition’s highest-scoring team last year, Rowan will be looking to utilise a similar attacking game plan again in 2022, with an imposing arsenal of classy players at his disposal.
“We play a very attacking style of football, and the crowd enjoys that, so for us the focus will be bringing that effort and heat every week,” he said.
“We’ve only got four out for Saturday, but we go into the clash filled with confidence that we can come away with the four points.”
While Euroa comes into the clash beaming with confidence, a new-look Mansfield side will be out to spoil the round one party.
With the experienced Chad Owens once again at the helm, he said his team would make the trip to Memorial Oval without any fear.
“We are a bit protected from who’s recruited what over here, so I think in the first five to 10 minutes both sides will just be cracking in and then as the game unfolds, we will make moves accordingly,” Owens said.
“We’re not going over there nervous or worried about them, that’s for sure, we will just go into the game focused on what we can control and nailing our game plan. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance to cause an upset.”
The Eagles enjoyed a busy off-season of recruiting, with VFL product Jack Hutchins highlighting an exciting list of ins.
Owens said Eagles fans should expect an exciting new-look game style from their team.
“They (the fans) will see a different Eagles team this year, we have recruited well and brought up some middle-aged players to complement our older bodies and exciting youth,” he said.
“It is going to take a few weeks to click, but we are all excited to see what we can achieve with this squad of players.
“Jack Hutchins is one that has already been great for us, he has given great structure to our back line and will be absolutely massive to the way we set up.”