Hugh Byrne has emerged as a star forward for Echuca in the absence of some of the side’s senior forwards. Photos: Jordan Townrow
As is the case every year, there is always one team in each competition that gets bitten by the injury bug. And in 2025 that nasty little creature has sunk its teeth into the three-time defending champions of the Goulburn Valley League, Echuca.
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With as many as 20 injuries at one time or another in the first seven rounds of the 2025 GVL season, including a few season-enders to key players, the Murray Bombers have effectively been on one leg to start their title defence.
Despite injuries to key contributors in the green machine’s historic three-peat, including newly minted co-captain Jack McHale with a knee injury that requires surgery, AJ Mills with a serious medical issue and a scary neck fracture to Ben Reid, Echuca is still carving up the competition with a 6-1 record.
The only blemish on the Murray Bombers’ otherwise perfect record was against Kyabram in round five, with the title-threatening Bombers keeping their unbeaten record alive against an Echuca side not near full strength.
Some other injuries to key premiership players include Liam Tenace and Kane Morris both dislocating fingers, Cooper Barber breaking his wrist, Lachlan Watson tearing his posterior cruciate ligament, Cameron Valentine with a hamstring issue, Sam Reid with an abductor strain, Leo O’Brien with a strained calf, Baxter Slater having Syndesmosis and Riley Smith suffering bone bruising.
Echuca coach Simon Maddox reflected on the side’s recent injury struggles but emphasised that while a good portion of the Murray Bombers’ senior players had been out with injury, it had given younger guys an opportunity to stand up.
“The side has been changing week-to-week, that is the one thing we haven’t been able to get is stability; however, we’ve had strong reserves and under-18s for a few years and a lot of those guys are getting opportunities now at senior level which is fantastic,” he said.
“The thing about all of this is that, yes, we have injuries, but we are still 6-1 so far. We are just trying to go about our business.
“The footy gods have looked down on us and said you’ve won the last three premierships, let's make it as difficult as possible this time, but we have been pretty lucky in the past with our injuries.
“We’ll just continue to pick our best 22 and continue to play our young guys and that’s all we can really do, but it’s a real positive that we are getting a lot of senior experience into our up-and-coming guys that may not have had the opportunity otherwise.”
Jaxson McMinn has been another young player to step up for Echuca.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Maddox acknowledged the efforts of some of their home-grown young guns brought in to the side, that have kept the team afloat during the injury-riddled season so far.
“We’ve played three or four of our under-18s in the seniors so far this year, Baxter Cowley and Hudson Kellett both played in the win on the weekend, and they were great,” he said.
“We fielded 12 guys against Mansfield that had played under 10 senior games, and they all played well, so the future is really bright for us because of how young they are and the level that they are performing at.
“Harry Milburn and Jaxson McMinn are playing in the back six and both have played under 10 senior games, and they are grabbing the opportunity and running with it.
“Mitchell Bell came across from Moama, he played one game in the reserves and has played seniors ever since, and he is only 19 and gone from strength to strength.
“Hugh Byrne has been massive for us; he’s on North Melbourne’s VFL list but has been playing centre-half forward for us with limited established help, and he’s been putting the forward line on his shoulders.”
Ever the optimist, Maddox emphasised that while it was not ideal to have so much of his three-peat side out with injury, he believes the side is in a good position to claim a historic fourth flag in as many years come finals.
“The injuries have definitely been a blessing in disguise, it helps our depth, lets the young guys develop and sometimes all those young players need is an opportunity,” he said.
“We are still winning games, and we’ll have many players come back in the second half of the year, so we are in a pretty good place, all things considered.”
