The Goulburn Valley Playing Area season returns for another year, starting with Tuesday’s midweek comp and Saturday’s weekend pennant, and while one familiar heavyweight has departed, the chase for supremacy feels as open as ever.
The 2025-26 campaign begins with a fresh wrinkle: Kyabram, a long-time contender of the GVPA, has taken its talents west to the Campaspe Playing Area competition.
Sliding neatly into the vacant slot is last year’s division two premier Seymour VRI, a proud club with plenty of pedigree and a hunger to prove it belongs among the region’s elite.
That small change has big ripple effects.
Without Kyabram’s red-and-black menace looming over the ladder, the remaining contenders smell opportunity.
Reigning premier Shepparton Golf once again wears the target on its back — and perhaps wears it well.
After reclaiming the shield last summer in emphatic style, the blue-and-gold juggernaut looks no less formidable.
Coach Kris Ferguson’s side thrives on consistency, and even with a few quiet tweaks to its line-up - namely Victorian youth representative Charlie Boswood joining the ranks - the Golfers’ mix of precision and patience remains the standard.
But if there’s a team most likely to upset the hierarchy, it might just be Tallygaroopna.
Still brimming with confidence from its 2023-24 flag and a minor premiership last season, the David Daws-led Redlegs carry that familiar mix of experience and depth that makes them a perennial threat.
The rivalry between Tally and Golf has become the GVPA’s marquee theatre.
And again, the odds are strong it’ll take centre stage once more when the season reaches its crescendo.
Shepparton Park continues to hover as the dark horse, bridging the gap between the league’s heavyweights and the hopefuls after finishing third last season.
With depth spreading across all rinks and the advantage of stability, Park looms as the quiet achiever capable of making noise come finals time.
And without Kyabram, Tatura-Hill Top will be itching to secure a finals berth after missing out on fourth by just 11 points last season.
The Bulldogs will be buoyed by making the midweek division one grand final, and though they fell at the hands of Tallygaroopna, their current trajectory suggests they’re circling the mark.
For Euroa, the aim is simple: keep improving.
Euroa showed grit in patches last season and, on their day, can test any side despite consecutive sixth place finishes in the Allan Matheson Shield since being promoted at the close of the 2022-23 campaign.
Mooroopna’s mission will be similar to that of Euroa’s.
The Cats chalked up two wins over the past summer and showed they can mix it with the mid table sides, best displayed by their win over Tatura-Hill Top in round five.
Meanwhile, East Shepparton will look to bounce back from a spell in the competition’s doldrums.
East has collected back to back wooden spoons but has avoided relegation due to movements within the GVPA framework, yet after doubling their win tally from the year prior, there’s no reason why the Zurcas Lane tenant can’t cause a few upsets.
And then there’s Seymour VRI— the unknown quantity.
The club’s blend of experience from the Seymour region and appetite for a challenge should make for fascinating early viewing as it adjusts to Goulburn Valley’s top-flight pace.
The greens are pristine, the jack’s waiting, and the chase for the Allan Matheson Shield is back on.
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