Echuca aims for four straight premierships in GV league this season

A behemoth of country football has revealed the secrets to its rise from several years of missing finals to becoming arguably Victoria’s best side in the space of less than a decade.

The Echuca squad at training with Simon Maddox (pink shirt) and Leo Tenace leading the team. Picure: Shane Jones.

One of Victorian country footy’s powerhouse clubs will chase an unprecedented fourth straight Goulburn Valley League premiership this season but almost a decade ago, they were stuck in mediocrity.

Echuca, under the guidance of former Carlton star Andrew Walker and Simon Maddon, have arguably been the best performed club post-Covid in the state with a hat-trick of flags.

Before the duo were appointed in 2018, the Murray Bombers didn’t play finals between 2012 and 2017. In 2013, they won just a solitary game.

Then president Ash Byrne’s decision to go with the co-coaching model at the end of the 2017 season will go down in Echuca folklore.

As they prepare to raise unfurl another premiership flag on Saturday against Shepparton United, Maddox has opened up on the moves to become a force.

Echuca won last year's premiership. The third straight flag for the Murray Bombers. Picture: Goulburn Valley Football Netball League

“Sometimes you have to go to rock bottom before you get to the other side,” he said.

“The first thing we did was have a really good chat about where we want to get to, what standards we need to put in place.

“It really helped having Andrew come pretty much straight out of the AFL because he could set some AFL standard benchmarks for us.

“We then looked at developing our own retention, putting good programs in place with juniors, finding the best under-18 coaches we can.

“Initially we thought if we could turn things around in three to four years we’d be happy.”

Instead, success came quickly, a preliminary final in 2018 was followed by a grand final loss to Kyabram before the club’s dynasty started.

Maddox said the secret to the success was the junior program.

Brownlow medalist Ollie Wines, Carlton swingman Brodie Kemp and West Coast small forward Noah Long are the club’s current AFL crop.

Walker’s son, Cody, looks set to join them in coming years as a potential Blues father-son selection.

The senior premiership sides of the last three seasons have been made up of homegrown talents.

“The kids were better than we gave them credit for which helped fast track our development,” Maddox said.

“That’s the breeding ground for the senior success. With the point system and the salary cap it’s almost like a cheat code.

“Our under-18s have won the past five premierships.”

New coach Leo Tenace (second left) guides the players through a training session. Picture: Shane Jones.

This year promises to be different on and off the field with Walker stepping down and being replaced by Leo Tenace, a much-loved under-18s premiership coach.

On the playing front, Sam Willoughby, Logan Prout, vice-captain Mitchell Wales and Dan Willis are missing from last year’s premiership team.

“We might be 10 to 15 percent less strong in round one than what we were in the grand final,” Maddox said.

“But if those kids grow, develop and foster we could be 10 to 15 percent better.

“The future is really bright and what we’re trying to achieve is sustained success.”

Originally published as Echuca aims for four straight premierships in GV league this season