Echuca wrote itself into the Goulburn Valley League history books with its 96-point win in the grand final over Shepparton at Deakin Reserve on Sunday.
The victory on the biggest stage ensured the Murray Bombers created their own slice of club history with three senior premierships in a row for the first time in the GVL for them.
The reigning premier bounced out of the blocks and could do no wrong in the first quarter as it went to the quarter time break with a 42-point advantage.
They just didn’t have a passenger at all and the pressure they applied to the Bears allowed them to extend their advantage to a whopping 74-points at half-time.
Shepparton put up a bit of fight in the third quarter and then again in the last quarter but in the final wash-up, Echuca still registered the highest ever score by a team in the big dance and the margin is a new record.
Shepparton ruckman and the 2024 Morrison Medallist Ash Holland won the Barry Connolly Medal for the best player of the finals while the Willoughby brothers – Sam and Cooper won the AFL Victoria Best on Ground medal awarded by the umpires and Wilf Cox Medal which is decided by the media.
Logan Prout, ruckman and skipper Kane Morris, defender Cam Valentine and Jack Evans were others to star on the big stage.
Echuca had 11 different goal-kickers on the day.
Others that could hold their head high for the defeated Bears after Holland in the ruck included Jonty Wardle, Ted Lindon, Joel Brett and Bryce Stephenson.
