Last pre-season hit-out for Murray Bombers

“Angus Byrne, Cameron Ballantyne and Ged Brereton didn’t play. Angus will probably be on VFL duty for round one of the GV season, but Cameron and Ged will return,” Maddox said.

Eaglehawk wasn’t at the same level as Ovens and Murray league team Wangaratta Magpies, who gave the Murray Bombers a significant hit-out a week earlier.

"Eaglehawk will probably be middle of the road in the Bendigo league,“ he said.

Echuca won not only the senior match, but also walked away with victories at under-16, under-18 and reserves grade level.

“We took a squad of 22 into the senior match. A few of our younger players from the previous year were in the team and performed well,” Maddox said.

An even spread of goals across the team were highlighted by Cooper Barber, Ruory Kirkby and Daniel Willis, who Maddox said kicked three or four each.

“We didn’t keep a list of goalkickers, but I know it was a very good spread,” he said.

Echuca’s only injury concern from the match was Mitchell Kemp, who hurt his knee and will this week undergo scans.

“Apart from that there is nothing to keep anyone out of round one,” he said.

The co-coach said he expected Rochester to have improved on last year, ahead of the teams’ round one clash on April 9, at Rochester.

"We really only worry about our own backyard, but I know they will be a formidable outfit. They pushed us last year at Rochester, maybe should have even beaten us,“ he said.

Maddox said the heat made it a really good hit-out for the Echuca side, although it was hard to gauge anything from practice games.

“Everyone has different agendas. We will train lightly (on Tuesday) because it was so hot.

“Some blokes will want to have a footy-free weekend before the season starts, others will have a look at the Murray league.

“We always have that week off in between the season proper and last practice match. It is good preparation for a solid block of four to six weeks,” Maddox said.