Hallowed rivalry between GVL giants resumes

For Echuca, it would be a fourth consecutive title, a feat not often repeated and never surpassed in the history of Goulburn Valley League, while for Rochester, it would mark the club's first triumph since 2008.

Although both sides have suffered losses to Kyabram, the storied foes have joined the Bombers in a clear top-three through 11 rounds and a meeting in September’s finals series could be on the cards.

The two teams’ only regular season meeting of this campaign will be held at Victoria Park, the Murray Bombers enjoying home ground advantage.

Although, if last season is any indication, the Tigers have no issue making the trip to Echuca.

The three-time premier’s only defeat in 2024 came the last time Rochester visited Victoria Park, in round 5 on May 4, 2024.

On that day, a powerful third quarter for the Tigers earned them a 13-point win and cemented the Tigers’ return as one of the league’s contenders.

Round 12 also marks a special occasion for Echuca Football Netball Club as it is the seventh annual Archie Walker Indigenous Round, which is a powerful recognition of culture, community and contribution.

Echuca’s senior football coach Simon Maddox highlighted the importance of the rivalry between the Murray Bombers and Tigers and said his side would be going into the contest wary of the danger Rochester presented.

“We have a fair bit of respect for Rochester, they’ve been competitive for a number of years now and they are back up the pointy end of the ladder again and they pushed Kyabram for three quarters last weekend, so their best footy is pretty good,” Maddox said.

“There will always be that rivalry there, people say it’s not what it once was 20 years ago, but if you ask Rochester, they’d love nothing more than to beat Echuca and the same goes for us.

“Playing once a year, you only get that one opportunity, so you don’t get the chance to square the ledger later on in the season like you get in other years.

“Rochester has plenty of good players, so we’ll be giving them the utmost respect, but we’ll be trying to get first into the footy and get it going our way.

“It’s a one-off game, second versus third on the ladder, so it’s pretty important that we come away with the points if we can.”

Maddox admitted that while Echuca was battling injuries like any team at this point in the season, his side was at less than full strength.

Yet, he believes his younger side can get it done if it can string together a strong four-quarter performance, something the team has been working on recently.

“We should get (Cameron) Valentine back this week, we’ve still got quite a few out, but he’ll be a big in if we can get him back,” he said

“We’ll have several more to choose from which is good. We are still a fair way off full strength, but every club has injuries this time of year, so we’ll just patch together a side that we think can get the job done.

“We’ve got to play four quarters of footy. For the last four or five weeks we’ve addressed that and we’ve been pretty good in patches. We’ve played a good quarter-and-a-half or two quarters and then we’ve gone to sleep for 15 minutes and let the opposition back in the game.

“We haven’t strung four solid quarters together, so that’ll be the aim. Against good opposition you have to play the whole game, we can’t afford to give them a free run at any point.”

Rochester coach Ash Watson also acknowledged the rivalry and the impending elite contest on Saturday.

“Echuca is definitely a huge rivalry for us and, every time we play, it’s high pressure, high intensity,” Watson said.

“It doesn't really matter where we are on the ladder, it’s always a hard-fought game and we expect nothing less this year.

“They’ve been the benchmark for a long time, so we're hoping to take a scalp.”

Although he concedes his side has title aspirations, Watson is taking the season as it comes, hoping to build towards a finals run where the likes of Echuca could stand in the way.

“At the moment we're just trying to win enough games to get us through to the top three and give ourselves that chance,” Watson said.

“We made it through to the prelim last year and we've added a few players, a couple in, a couple out and we've got a few injuries at the moment that, hopefully, we'll get back towards the back end of the year and give ourselves a shot at those teams up the top like Echuca and Kyabram.”

While the fierceness of the Echuca and Rochester rivalry is mainly reserved for the football, Echuca A-grade netball coach Belinda Lees is excited to battle against a resilient Tigers unit.

“Saturday will be a great test for us because Rochester have got a couple of huge scalps this season, so we’ll see how we go,” Lees said.

“We have a great relationship with the netball girls, it is always a competitive game and is a great battle out there, so we are just excited to play netball.

“For us, Rochester is that team that just continues fighting until the end, so you can never really relax against them, so we know we’ll have to put in a four-quarter effort.”

While it hasn’t been the season that Lees and Echuca would’ve liked, mainly due to injury, the bright side has been the emerging young talent that has been given an opportunity to shine in the top flight.

“We’ve had an interesting season this year with a number of injuries. Two of our players have gone down with ACL and we’ve also had a broken hand,” Lees said.

“We are fielding a lot of new talent in our A-grade side, which is exciting for the club and they’re definitely holding their own out there against some tough competition.

“I’m just excited to see what the young girls put out on court again and I’m really enjoying coaching them and the excitement that they bring.”

On Rochester’s side, A-grade co-coach Linda Rasmussen said the netball rivalry with Echuca remained a fierce, but friendly one.

“We love Echuca, but we hate Echuca as well, so that rivalry is still thick and strong,” Rasmussen said.

“Both teams have had injury troubles, so it'll be a really good close game and, hopefully, we can come away with four points.”

The Tigers, helmed by Rasmussen and co-coach Rachel Whipp, aren’t where they think they could be this season, sitting at 4-7, but a glut of injuries has tested the club’s lower-grade stocks.

“We probably just don't have the depth, so when we do have injuries it's hard then to get through,” Rasmussen said

“We've got some really good juniors coming through, but they also have had some really terrible season-ending injuries as well, so it's been a real balancing act.

“We are just a small community town, the smallest club in the league, so we do really well to keep fighting up against those big clubs.”

The senior football and A-grade netball games are set to begin at 2.15pm on Saturday at Victoria Park.

This week’s One FM broadcast game is between Mooroopna and Mansfield, live from 1.30pm.