Gallery | Echuca produces mighty Goulburn Valley League comeback against Shepparton Swans

The latter, Shepparton Swans, hosted the former, Echuca, and the hosts got off to a scintillating start.

Playing a slick brand of netball the Swans made everything work in the first quarter as they galloped away to a 17-8 lead at the opening break.

The visitors hit back hard in the second quarter, but the Swans remained firm and were five goals in front at half-time.

Young gun Murray Bombers goaler Rose Byrne was a constant threat in attack and a key reason behind Echuca’s second-half resurgence.

After the Swans gave an inch in the second quarter, the Murray Bombers took a mile in the third.

The visitors flipped the script on the Swans as they played clean and precise netball, moving it with relative ease from defence to attack.

Echuca won the quarter 20 goals to eight and took a seven-goal lead into the final 15 minutes of play.

The Swans never gave up physically, but mentally the lead felt too much to conquer as they drifted out of the game late.

By the time the final horn was blared, the Murray Bombers had jumped out to a 10-goal lead and won the match 57-47 to move up to fifth spot on the ladder.

Shepparton Swans co-player-coach Kate Betson was a miniature wrecking ball on the court as she tried to wrench back the contest in favour of her team late.

Speaking after the match, Betson said she knows the Swans have to improve their physical fitness if they are to get tougher mentally and stop their second-half fade-outs.

“I think fitness comes into it a little bit, we start off really strong and then as we get tired we make silly mistakes and have some mental lapses; I think we come in and out of the game a bit mentally,” Betson said.

“Our fitness and to stay in the game mentally for 60 minutes is a focus for us every week.

“We tend to be really great for seven or eight minutes and then we trail off.

“It’s a pretty young team too, so when there is not a lot of experience out there on the court that’s probably a big thing as well.

“When it is tight and tough, (we need to have) a few more leaders step up and really say, ‘Come on we can do this’, instead of letting us trail off.”

Despite the slow finish, the Swans can be buoyed by their fast start against a quality Echuca outfit.

Betson said a consistent starting seven of Tayla Clohesy (centre), Chelsea McDonald (goal attack), Natasha Atkinson-Brown (goal shooter), Sophie Garner (wing attack), Betson (wing defence), Ella Cirillo (goal defence) and Klarindah Hudson-Proctor (goalkeeper) had been the key to the team’s strong opening stands.

Of the Swans’ 11 players on Saturday, Betson highlighted a couple of efforts from players that she believed shouldn’t go unnoticed.

“I think Tayla Clohesy did really well, she is always really strong and gives 100 per cent every week,” she said.

“She is fit and tough and really has a crack.

“I think our goalers did it pretty tough today, but Chelsea McDonald is always really strong and steps up as a leader."

Around the other A-grade courts, Tatura pushed titan Euroa to the final siren in a high-quality thriller.

On the road, the Magpies escaped with a five-goal victory in one of their toughest matches of 2025.

The two Deakin Reserve clubs produced round eight victories with Shepparton beating Kyabram by 28 goals to stay undefeated and Shepparton United outlasted Rochester 46-39.

Seymour claimed an away-from-home scalp as it defeated Mooroopna by six goals, while Benalla won on the road by 11 goals over Mansfield.