Shepparton South and Tatura to square off in Bendigo Amateur Soccer League grand final again

Closely examining this Sunday’s fixture, the powderkeg will ignite once again.

Keeping with tradition, the two local juggernauts duke it out at McEwen Reserve for the league’s grand prize, and for Tatura coach Thomas Corso, there are fond memories to lean on approaching the match.

“That was amazing (last year); I’d never won a grand final before last year, so that was huge to win a final with the team after the regular season,” he said.

“At the moment everyone’s excited as you should be. We’ve got a very, very young team ― half the team are still teenagers.

“There’s obviously a lot of buzz around the group, we’re really excited to just get out there and get the game going.

“There’s probably a few nerves from those young boys leading into the game, but I think very quickly those nerves will go away and it’ll just be excitement, passion and whatnot.

Corso’s achievement as a first year coach should not be discounted.

He joined the Ibises in 2019 after time at now-disbanded Kyabram Phoenix and later Goulburn Valley Suns before his brother Blake coaxed him into the red and white.

The defender has been a part of Tatura’s senior leadership group for a short time, but was tapped on the shoulder to take on the big job ― and it has taken some adjusting, according to Corso.

“It’s definitely been different to what I’m used to, I can’t say I was prepared or too confident in myself leading into the role,” he said.

“It’s all worked out okay, there’s been ups and down throughout the year of course, a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility, but I think it’s going well so far.

“To finish top of the league with the team that I’ve got and the experience I’ve got in the role, I think it’s a very good result and to make the final this weekend is another huge result.”

Someone who’s not as familiar with the BASL landscape is Shepparton South import Jake Rumble.

But in terms of credentials, you’ll struggle to find a player in the league with a better footballing CV than the left-back.

Rumble played for Woking in the National League ― the fifth step of English football for those not in the know ― before departing for foreign shores.

During that time he played alongside Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott and Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala in the Surrey youth ranks and was initially supposed to join the Suns after an online interaction with coach Craig Carley.

However, with the Orangemen’s import slots already filled Rumble’s number was passed on to South coach Rob Harmeston.

The rest is history.

Now Rumble is ready to run over the white line for his first taste of grand final football.

“Obviously last year I heard that they went unbeaten and what happened in the grand final, but I think this year has been pretty good on a whole,” he said.

“There’s been a few off games, but other than that we’ve got a league cup, second in the league and the grand final on Sunday.

“I like to get forward, assists, goals but obviously my main role is defending, so we’ll worry about that first and then we’ll get the attacking going after.”

Rumble scored once against Tatura when South toppled the Ibises 7-2 in August’s League Cup final and is ready to repeat his heroics on Sunday.

He’s got the champagne on ice in preparation for the celebrations should South repeat the feat ― and has one message to spread.

“I feel like I’ll be seeing daylight the next day without any sleep being involved to be honest,” he said.

“I think we’ll have a good go, we’ll have a good night, but we’ve got to get the job done first.”