Echuca co-coach Simon Maddox elated to see fruits of his labour pay off after clinching consecutive premierships

By Liam Nash

Sep 24, 2023

Stern word: Simon Maddox addresses Echuca at three-quarter time. Photo: Aidan Briggs Photo by Aidan Briggs

Even a fresh Brillo pad and a tubful of elbow grease couldn’t have scrubbed the smile off Simon Maddox’s face on Sunday night.

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The Echuca co-coach had just witnessed his Murray Bombers complete consecutive Goulburn Valley League premierships, six years after arriving on the club’s doorstep, beating Kyabram 15.13 (103) to 9.13 (67).

He beamed at seeing his ― and fellow co-coach Andrew Walker’s ― road map in effect after questioning what an Echuca football side should look like upon arrival.

It’s safe to say, ‘‘successful’’ is the answer following the 2023 grand final.

“We had a really good honest look at where we were at and we had some really hard conversations,” Maddox said.

“We wanted to build a side that was Echuca footy club, based around our juniors.

“That’s ultimately what we’ve done, we feel like we’ve got a really good brand and a really good team and when it gets tough, they stand up.”

Maddox said “trusting the system” was paramount in Sunday’s epic.

Rotating heavily throughout the first half to account for the heat, he addressed his charges at the main break which paid dividends as Echuca raced away with eight unanswered goals.

“We were confident, but we weren’t playing that well,” he said.

“But we turned up in the third quarter after a few home truths at half-time, we stuck to our structures, we stuck to what we tried to do and sort of creeped after half-time.”