And it is expected to translate to the local cricket season.
Having just seen a World Cup and Ashes series, cricket fans are ready to resume their summer sporting love this weekend with the opening round of Goulburn Murray Cricket's A grade season
GMC operations manager James Stokes said players were excited to begin the season.
"It's taken a while to come around,” he said.
"We think there will be a fairly competitive competition this year.
"Clubs like Echuca South, which has had its struggles in the past, have done a lot of hard work in the off-season and will be a lot better this year, so the clubs should all be fairly even across the A grade competition."
Echuca South will open its year at home, taking on 2018/19 grand finalists Kyabram Fire Brigade.
Fire Brigade will be without dominant batsman Paul Newman, the man who has made more runs than any Flames batsman in history.
Newman has made the switch to Kyabram Cricket Club in Cricket Shepparton.
Echuca hosts reigning premiers Rochester at Victoria Park.
Echuca is looking to build on its resurgence of the 2018/19 season.
Meanwhile Moama - a side controversially removed from the finals last season due to another club's actions surrounding an ineligible player - will begin its road to redemption against 2019 semi finalist Tongala.
Stokes said the game's growth was a point of pride for the GMC.
"We've seen an increase in team numbers for this season,” he said.
"We have gone from 40 to 41 overall. Clubs have been doing great work to get into a really strong position for this year, and its going to show in the next few weeks as the season begins with really strong numbers."
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