Jack McHale makes his long-awaited Echuca return as the Murray Bombers face Shepparton Swans in round four.
McHale returns after serving a four-game suspension sustained in last season’s semi-final against Euroa, one that saw the contested bull miss the decider two weeks later.
Tipped as one of the Morrison Medal frontrunners up to that point, McHale bolsters a Murray Bombers side already looking in ominous form in what shapes as one of the few changes to the squad to face the Swans.
“He’s pretty excited,” Echuca co-coach Sam Reid said.
“He’s had a lot of time between playing that semi-final and now and obviously missed the grand final so he’s raring to go.
“Hopefully he can get through, build match fitness, and get going to have a massive season for us.”
Coming off a 93-point win over Rochester, the unbeaten Echuca will face the Jedd Wright-led Swans as they seek to rebound from a 20-point defeat to Mansfield and improve on the 1-2 win-loss record that currently has them in eighth place.
Round 12 last season was the last time they met, and the Murray Bombers were 68-point winners over the Swans.
History will favour the home side as well in what Wright describes as a “free hit”, with the Swans failing to topple the reigning premier since 2017.
But with former AFL stars including Nathan Hrovat and Jamie Macmillan on board, it shapes as an intriguing clash.
“They’ve added a couple of guys with AFL experience,” Reid said.
“Teams tend to get themselves up to play us which we love.
“They were a reasonably good, young team last year and they’ve tried to add a bit of experience into it so we’re looking forward to playing them back at home after two games on the road.”
The first bounce between Echuca and Shepparton Swans will take place at Victoria Park from 2pm.