With six lead changes and the margin failing to wander beyond a goal until the late stages of the game, the GV produced a gallant showing as each league’s rising stars showcased their skill set.
O&M’s Kade Hadley had the first say, but industrious GVL and Shepparton ruckman Liam Broom wasn’t far off with a reply, chopping off an errant defensive kick out and calmly slotting the first of the game for the visitor.
Mansfield’s Sam Guppy provided some run and dash out of the back half for the GV, but O&M managed to steal a seven-point advantage heading into quarter-time courtesy of Corey Peterson.
Noah Muir (Shepparton) and Charlie Isaac (Kyabram) both goaled early in the second to hand the GVL the lead for the first time, while a threatening O&M’s rapid transition footy was only undone by an inaccurate run of four behinds, broken by Will Robertson.
Mooroopna bull Oscar Emanuelli lifted a notch with some good work out of the contest for a goal, again answered by O&M , which went into half-time holding a five-point buffer.
Adam Storer initiated the game’s fourth lead change with a goal inside a minute after half-time, as Oscar Lambourn and Guppy continued to repel probing inside-50 entries.
Rory Duffy’s running goal, followed by Muir’s second and Echuca-product Hudson Kellet’s goal out of the contest, saw the GVL out to a game-high 12-point lead, O&M’s Isaiah Robertson keeping it in it with two goals of his own.
Kellett wasn’t the only Echuca name featured in the GVL side, with Luke Oellermann and Ky Henson also in action.
Heading into the final stanza with a goal the difference, the GVL could sense its first win since 2019.
But while Lambourn provided the sole strike of the quarter for the GV, it was beset by a raging Robertson, whose pivotal pair of goals in the fourth quarter would eventually earn best-on-ground honours.
The 10.13 (73) to 9.6 (60) victory hands the O&M its third consecutive win in the fixture, but despite ruing what could have been, GVL coach Ramadan Yze was buoyed by the ability of his players to shake a slow start.
“Disappointed we didn’t get the result, obviously, but the boys never gave up,” Yze said.
“I thought (O&M) worked harder than we did without the footy, but to the boys’ credit they fought it right to the end.
“I think it was just a mindset change for the boys; they realised they were up to it and can compete with the best.
“To their credit, they fought back into the contest, and they were up at three-quarter time, they just couldn’t hang on.
“I think they did their clubs proud and the league proud. What these kids produced I thought was magnificent.”
Guppy, Lambourn, Duffy, and Broom stood tall as some of the GVL’s top players on the day, though the quality across the board should have supporters of the league excited for its future.
“I thought Sam Guppy was really good,” Yze said.
“Liam Broom in the ruck, I think he won most of the tap outs. Rory Duffy on the wing, Caden Ratcliffe down forward, it was a real team effort across the board.
“It’s exciting for the league going forward that these kids are coming through and a few of them are playing senior footy already, so it’s only upwards and onwards from here.”
