That’s right, a team sitting in eighth place with two wins and two losses has made the best start of all 13 teams in the competition.
Not that their record is the most impressive; two wins from four games wouldn’t necessarily be considered setting the competition ablaze. In fact, a 50 per cent win rate would typically be regarded as completely ordinary.
Yet for the Eagles, it signifies a remarkable turnaround from the heavy defeats and lack of competitiveness they showed last year.
In 2022, Echuca United lost eight games by 100 points or more, including the first five on the trot. They didn’t win their first game until round 12, and won just three for the year, finishing one place off the bottom of the ladder.
The dismal season was followed up with an off-season that included very little recruiting, as the club brought in only two players.
Supporters would be forgiven for believing they were set to endure yet another year hovering around the bottom few positions on the ladder.
Yet under the guidance of 2013 premiership player Farran Priest, the Eagles have made a resurgent start to the 2023 campaign, and if the form they have shown in the first five rounds is able to be sustained, they will be a genuine chance to contend for a finals spot come September.
While the Eagles suffered a disappointing first-round loss to Tongala, it’s been an outlier.
Sure, Moama kicked 18 behinds in the wet against the Eagles in the round two clash, and probably deserved to win by more than 19 points.
But Echuca United stayed in the game for three quarters by punishing mistakes and making the most of the opportunities given to them, ensuring Moama had to earn the win.
A big 155-point win against Rumbalara followed, before a gutsy four-point upset over 2022 grand finalist Cobram.
Cobram hasn’t quite shown the form the side possessed last year, but they still feature 17 of the 22 players from the grand final side. And the resolve that was missing from the Eagles last year was more than evident as they weathered a final-quarter Tigers onslaught.
But just how has the side managed to turn things around?
Youth.
The club, and Priest as coach, has put a big focus on nurturing the young players coming through the junior ranks.
Reigning best-and-fairest winner Kynan Sharpe was playing under-17s football in 2019, and has taken his game to another level again this year, featuring in the best in three of the four games he has played.
Mitch Boyd locked down the centre half-back position last year as a 17-year-old, while Max Childs, Ryan Stobaus and Nash Ramage are all recent graduates of the Echuca United youth system as well, having played in the under-17 side within the past two years and are now a regular presence in the senior squad.
Oliver Poole is perhaps the brightest of the young stars at United, although will probably play the least number of games this year out of the aforementioned players, as he continues to enhance his reputation while appearing for the Bendigo Pioneers.
The young crop of Eagles are playing at a much higher standard than expected of them, with some genuine talent farmed in-house, and will surely cause another upset by season’s end.
And I’m backing them to cause that upset this weekend when they face high-flying Numurkah at home, in what shapes as a perfect litmus test for the side.
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