Samuel Edgar has impressed as a young addition to the Murray Bombers’ senior side in 2025. Photos: Jordan Townrow
Despite a smattering of injuries and absences for Echuca’s senior football side and A-grade netball team, the Murray Bombers still have their eyes firmly set on Goulburn Valley League finals success.
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It is no secret that Echuca has been the dominant force in A-grade netball and senior football in the past few years with Echuca winning the A-grade flag in 2023 and being runner-up in 2024, while the senior footballers have won the past three premierships on the bounce.
However, the 2025 has marked a turn for both sides, with Echuca’s miraculous injury luck over the past few years catching up with it.
With the senior side missing roughly half its regular players over the season and some injuries to key players in the A-grade unit, the Murray Bombers aren’t dominating as per their standard over the past few seasons.
All is not lost though, with some young guns stepping up from the reserves and under-18s the seniors currently sit in third with a record of 10-2 and the youth movement propelling A-grade into eighth on the ladder with percentage the only thing stopping it from jetting into the top six.
“I think we are going pretty well despite our injuries, a couple of season enders and then a few that has interrupted some key players for us,” Echuca coach Simon Maddox said.
“The positive out of that is we’ve played a heap of kids and are still right up there in the mix, which is good.
“We’ve still got players to come back in and weren’t beaten by Rochester and Kyabram by huge amounts, so we are pretty happy with where we sit with the moment.
“We are in a good spot and our best is in our own hands, if we win games to end the season, we’ll finish quite high on the ladder, which is our main goal at this stage.
“We’ll look to finals when we get a little bit closer.”
Young gun Rose Byrne has been vital for Echuca’s A-grade side this year.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Maddox highlighted the blessing in disguise this season has given Echuca’s football program with some bright young talent to gain valuable top-flight experience.
“I think it’s definitely been a successful season for us so far, we’ll get 20 games out of this season into some 18- and 19-year-olds, so we’ll fast track their development,” he said.
“The guys that are out are the older more experienced guys, so it’s been a bit of a changing of the guard in some ways which will hold us in really good stead for next year and the year after.”
Echuca A-grade netball coach Belinda Lees said that while it may not have been the season that the Murray Bombers would’ve wanted, she had enjoyed watching the growth and development of the club’s budding stars.
“It’s been an interesting season for us, but has been rewarding coaching the A-grade group this year, we’ve fielded 23 players so far this season which is huge,” she said.
“To see some of the youth and the talent be exposed to what A-grade GVL netball is and shine out there has been great.
“The younger girls have been able to absorb feedback and run with the best in our league, which has been very rewarding to see.
“We’re still striving for a finals place and we have the goal of getting there and seeing what happens, but there has been so much reward to come from the season in itself.”
