The stage is set for another thrilling chapter in the storied rivalry between arguably the two best country football leagues in Victoria on Saturday.
The Goulburn Valley and Ovens and Murray leagues will go head-to-head at Deakin Reserve in Shepparton, with the two senior representative sides competing for the Ash-Wilson trophy in what promises to be a gripping display of high-level football.
After a heartbreaking seven-point loss last year, which came despite hitting the front in the final term, the GVL will on Saturday look to defeat the O&M for the first time in 14 years when it takes to the field under the tutelage of co-coaches Mark Lambourn and Sam Reid.
While Reid still has a few selection headaches to work through, given the unavailability of several of the initially named squad members through injury, the Echuca gun hasn’t lost any of his enthusiasm towards Saturday’s clash.
“We're pretty excited. We're still working through a little bit to do with the team and stuff given we're round 9 or whatever throughout the year, so there's a couple of injuries and stuff that have bobbed up,” he said.
“We're looking for the guys that are keen to play, and the 20 or so that we have at the moment, we'll turn that into 22-23 before the weekend.
“(I'm) really looking forward to it, we had a reasonable turn out (on Tuesday night), we had a few guys in Melbourne, they weren't expected to travel, but we'll have a meal together Friday and yeah, super excited to get here on our home deck and host the O&M.”
While seven Echuca players were named in the initial squad, that number looks to be reduced significantly, with a trio of Murray Bombers among those ruled out.
A handful of Echuca stars will still take to the field, however, which remains a point of excitement for the club.
"We've lost a couple of key players which is unfortunate,” Reid said.
“Cam Val (Cameron Valentine), Jack Evans and ‘Jock’ (Jack) McHale all won't play, they've pulled up a bit sore from the weekend, so we've still got four or five that are keen as to play which is exciting for Echuca.
“It's one of those things that you want to play the highest end footy, and playing against one of the best country football leagues in the country is going to be really good.
“It's sort of the height of what you can get playing country football, representing your league.”
Reid, who has spoken previously about his love of the interleague format, was firm in his delivery of what the objective was on the weekend, especially given last year’s result.
The Echuca midfielder, who is currently sidelined through injury, was tongue-in-cheek about his chances of pulling on the boots on Saturday, but demonstrated his desire to get the result over O&M.
“We want to win, obviously we were pretty close last year and a there are a couple of guys that played in that last year, so we really want to win,” he said.
“That's what us as coaches are talking about, and when I discussed with the league last year about being involved, I was obviously keen as to play.
“I'm out at the moment — I did have a run around tonight, we'll see how we go, I might be the late call up.
“But yeah, I'm just keen as to win, and that's what we want to do every time we play footy, we want to win, that's why you play.
“Winners celebrate and losers have meetings, and we want to be celebrating.”
With the vast expanses of Deakin Reserve awaiting, Reid said there is only one way the side in purple and gold will be playing, with an exciting brand of football set to deliver fireworks.
“Run and gun mate,” he said of the game plan.
“Let's just score as quickly as possible, and try and show off our skills on a big deck.”
The first bounce of the senior interleague clash between the GVL and O&M is set for 2pm on Saturday at Deakin Reserve in Shepparton.