There is plenty to be said for assessing Echuca's ability to defeat the Bombers — something it has not done since 2011 — but the most pertinent query surrounding the squad is whether it can win a grand final.
For when the final siren reverberates across the home of football on Sunday evening, the team that has ticked all of the right boxes — regardless of the foe it ticks them against — will be the team which reigns supreme.
And on a spring day at Deakin Reserve, those boxes are quite simple — win the ruck battle, navigate the wind and negate the most influential player on the ground not wearing your jumper.
The Murray Bombers know all of these things, they now just have to put them in to practice.
“This is what we all play for,” co-coach Simon Maddox said.
“It's the aim of the game at the end of the day, you're there to make grand finals and to win premierships. There are a lot of great things you get out of football, but at the end of the day we are here to win flags.
“There is a sense of satisfaction, but the job isn't done.
“If you get beaten, you haven't done what you set out for.”
The ruck battle is so important at Deakin Reserve on grand final day because territory is the aim of the game.
Sunday's clash will be a feast for contested possession winners, and if your ruck setup is working your midfield menagerie will be too.
In the last four GVL deciders a dominant ruckman has been awarded either the Wilf Cox or AFL Vic Country Medal — or both — as the best player on the field for the winning side.
Last season Shepparton's Ash Holland claimed the set, while Kyabram's Jake Reeves — who was missing last year, but will return to the biggest stage on Sunday — took out the Wilf Cox and Barry Connolly player of the finals series award in 2017 and the AFL Vic Country Medal in 2016, both in winning sides.
Benalla big man Josh Marchbank began the trend in 2015 for the Saints by claiming the Wilf Cox.
What that means for Echuca is captain Kane Morris and understudy Jobee Warde could well be the most important players in green jumpers on Sunday as they take on Reeves and Zac Norris.
The second box is as simple as it sounds, with the Murray Bombers navigating the wind well last week against the Bears to defend a lead they worked hard to create.
But the final box is where the coaching magic of Maddox and his partner in magnet-spinning Andrew Walker will come to the fore.
Kyabram has many players capable of tearing contests apart, but the Murray Bombers cannot afford to be ultra-defensive.
Shepparton found the right balance last year with Mitch Brett and Jonty Wardle completing brilliant stopping jobs on Kayne Pettifer and Lachie Smith respectively.
Elliot Stewart is likely to renew his recent rivalry with the latter, but where Echuca could attempt to find an edge is against superstar Mick Mattingly.
Having claimed the Morrison Medal this week — along with almost every other award he was eligible for — Mattingly is clearly a key factor for the Bombers, with Noah Wheeler looming as an option for Echuca to test him out physically.
Other crucial players for the Murray Bombers will include Mitch Kemp and Luke McKenna with their drive from the half-back flank, Angus Byrne, Ruory Kirkby, Daniel Willis and Tim Allan and their movements in and around the forward line and the aerial defensive prowess of Peter Faulks and Cam Valentine.
In the last meeting between the Murray Bombers and Kyabram, the former pushed the latter all the way to the line in an eventual 17-point defeat.
But if Echuca is to tick all the boxes and claim its first flag since back-to-back triumphs in 2001 and 2002, it knows it needs more than just an honourable effort.
“Ky still won,” Maddox said.
“You take a bit away and know you are on the right track against them. But they did what they needed to do. What we take away from every game is that our best is good enough, but we know we have to bring our best for the full game.
“We had a patch of 15 minutes in the qualifying final where we didn't play well and they won the game during it. That's our lesson, we can't have those lapses or we aren't going to win. If we can just do it for a bit longer, we are going to be right in this contest and be a real chance to win.”
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