Sport

‘Disappointing for both teams’: Moama boss reflects on washed out final

By Matthew Kappos

Mar 5, 2026

Moama was awarded the GMCW premiership on Sunday after the grand final against Echuca was washed out before the second innings. Photo: Lauren Davy.

An anticipated local clash in the Goulburn Murray Cricket Women’s grand final was ruined by poor weather on Sunday.

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Only one innings was completed, with Moama putting on 7-156 before the weather really set in during the innings break. Echuca never made its way to the middle for the chase.

“We obviously wanted to have a result, I'm sure Echuca did as well, so disappointing for both teams,” Moama coach Paul Arthurson said.

“I think we started the game pretty well. I was happy with our score of 156 off our allotted overs and I thought we were in a good position to defend it, but you just never know when you don't get a chance to go the other way.”

As Moama was the minor premier, league regulations designated it the 2025-26 premier as a result of the no contest.

“You don’t think about that throughout the year, you’re thinking about each game as it comes,” Arthurson said.

“I feel sorry for the girls more than anything because I would love to have seen them run on to the ground at the end of the end of the game to celebrate, which is a really good way to finish a season.

“We’ll certainly take the premiership, it’s a real achievement and the girls worked really hard over the last couple of years to get themselves into that position, so all credit to them.”

A youthful squad, Moama has more room to grow, even after earning the premiership just two years into the club’s return to the league.

Arthurson indicated work needed to be done to strengthen women’s pathways in the GMC to maintain an influx of youth.

“My only concern really is the fact there’s no under-15s GMC girls' teams at the moment,” he said.

“Most of the girls in our team would have played under-15s, and they probably would have played Master Blasters as well, but I just don’t feel like I see that coming through at the moment.

“That’s certainly a concern for the broader competition.

“There’s a lot of work that’s got to be done in that space to make sure that we’ve got a really good women’s comp going into the future.”

Overall, the Moama boss felt the washout would only serve to fire up both sides for the 2026-27 season.

“You feel for Echuca,” Arthurson said.

“We’ll certainly celebrate, but I think both teams I have a lot of motivation going into next year to try and prove what they could have done or would hope to have done.”