Outside of Echuca’s dominance for the entirety of the 2020s, Moama has been the most consistent A-grade side in the past 10 years, making finals every season.
After two grand final appearances, including a 2023 all-time classic, the Mowers have brought in a big signing from across the river to add batting depth.
After finishing runner-up in the 2024-25 McMahon Shield run-scoring tally and boasting the highest batting average in the competition (54.9) for the same campaign, young Echuca maestro Kobyn James has been lured to the club.
James will add explosive hitting and top-order class to Moama’s established nucleus of Joel Murphy, Anthony McMahon, Fraser Buchanan and newly appointed head coach Matthew Saunders.
After suffering an Achilles tear in round one last season, Murphy is back to skipper the side — with his most recent full season as captain bringing Moama to the cusp of ultimate glory.
“Pre-season has been really good, everyone’s up and about and keen to get started this weekend,” Murphy said.
“We’ve got Matt Saunders on as coach this year, and he’s been running a pretty tight ship and everyone’s been pretty keen and committed at training so far.
“Kobyn is the main one (new signing) from outside the club, which is a big get for us, but we’ve got a few guys like myself returning from injury, Clay McGregor and Billy Gallagher who didn’t really play last year.
“So guys that have been around that have been injured, are basically recruits for this season, which we’re looking forward to having them back as well.”
Reflecting on the season ahead, Murphy is confident that this summer is the one where the Mowers break their A-grade premiership drought, with plenty of buy-in and enthusiasm from the playing group to get it done.
“We like to think we can do it, we had a few things go against us last year, we still battled away and did pretty well,” he said.
“So, if everyone can stay fit and healthy, with what we’ve got, there’s no reason why we couldn’t get to the pointy end this year for sure, that’s definitely our ambition and that’s what we’re aiming for.
“There are a lot of guys who have made a lot of semi-finals, we’ve made a couple of finals and we’ve been close many times. I think the whole group is just really keen to take those next couple of steps and right those wrongs.”
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