The woes of ‘what could have been’ stemming from three consecutive grand final losses have been washed away over the past two seasons, with the Murray Bombers claiming back-to-back premierships to finally take their spot at the top of local women’s football.
One major change for the new season has been the departure of long-time coach, Damien Dalziel, who was in charge of the side for all five grand final appearances.
With Dalziel taking charge of Lockington-Bamawm United’s reserves for 2025, senior player Kate Dixon is stepping into a player-coach role for the new season.
A former Richmond VFLW player, Dixon has previous coaching experience with the Bendigo Pioneers.
“We only did seven weeks of pre-season, so we kept it fairly short,” Dixon said.
“We’ve actually got 10 new girls who have played football before, which is good for us.
“They’re already coming in with some skill and experience, which is great, so I think we're looking good on paper.”
Retaining players between seasons had been a challenge for the side over past off-seasons, but that didn’t prove the case this year, with only two players departing from the 2024 premiership-winning squad.
The strength of the local junior scene has also paid dividends for the Murray Bombers, with many of the recruits graduating from the girls' competition to bolster the champions.
“Those girls who hadn’t played before (last year), they now have a premiership medal around their neck, so they can take that under their belt moving forward,” Dixon said.
“The girls who have come on board, they've just come out of the youth girls competition so they've had some good experience, which has been great.”
With a title-winning squad mostly unchanged and bolstered by an injection of youth, expectations will be high for Echuca to make another deep run this year.
“Ultimately, you'd love to get a championship medal, but we're just going to take each week at a time and not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Dixon said.
The GMWL has lost one team this year, with Nagambie departing, leaving seven sides to battle it out over a 14-round regular season.
Round one for the Murray Bombers sees Rumbalara visit Victoria Park.
“We're looking forward to a good hit-out at home and hopefully Rumba have got good numbers for themselves,” Dixon said.
“Women's football as a whole is trying to get people to play at local level.
“I think when girls are decent players they seem to chase VFL and AFL, which is fantastic, but it's just about developing girls, so I'm glad that Rumba have got a team.
“There's a bye this year, and we're going to have a couple of night matches on Friday nights, which is a bit different from our Sunday games.”
First bounce for the game is set for 2pm, with the flag unveiling to take place immediately before.
Goulburn Murray Girls League
Echuca is also home to the reigning girls’ champions, Echuca United dominating the competition in an undefeated season last year.
The Eagles swept all others aside in 2024, and will look to continue that surge into 2025, kicking off their campaign against Nathalia at 6.30pm on Friday night at Nathalia Recreation Reserve.
Former Mathoura senior co-coach Tim McCormick has taken over the side from Jason Dennis and will see a shake-up of playing personnel.
Along with the natural turnover of junior divisions, some players ageing out into the seniors, and others joining from younger programs, several of last year’s stars will have Bendigo Pioneers duties to contend with this campaign.
One of last year’s semi-finalists, Moama, also begins its season at the weekend, taking on Shepparton Swans at 12.30pm on Sunday at Moama Recreation Reserve.
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