Weekly Times | WILL Albury and Yarrawonga face off in a seventh consecutive Ovens and Murray Football League grand final?
Whether someone can force one or both clubs to relinquish their stranglehold on the league’s decider remains the burning question as the competition launches its season on Friday night.
Albury and Yarrawonga have featured in the past six Ovens and Murray league grand finals, and Albury took its tally to four flags from six last year when it downed the Pigeons by seven points.
Coleman medallist Brendan Fevola was part of Yarrawonga’s 2012 and 2013 flags, along with last year’s grand final loss, and enters his fourth season with the Pigeons as co-coach alongside Drew Barnes.
He ranked Albury — which has added former Adelaide-listed player Angus Graham to its roster — as the side to beat and said Yarrawonga had more youth compared with previous years.
“We’ve got a very young list at the moment so we’re not pencilling in grand finals and this and that again,” Fevola said. “We’ll just be happy if we’re thereabouts — come September, if we’re in the finals, any one of those five teams can win.”
Ovens and Murray league general manager Aaron McGlynn also tipped Albury as the team to beat, but said Lavington could claim the second grand final spot. The Panthers have made finals the past four years, and in 2011, 2013 and 2014 lost the preliminary final by three points or less.
They led at every change against Yarrawonga last year, including a 14-point three-quarter time buffer, but lost by a point.
“They’ve been around the mark for the past five years and they’ve been unlucky probably to not take that next step, especially last year,” McGlynn said.
“They’re extremely well coached, they’ve got a good group of players, they do have a few on the list that are probably ageing, but that experience is going to be beneficial for them while they’re still running around.”
One of the big question marks for the season is the Wodonga Raiders, who open the Ovens and Murray league season under lights on Good Friday against Wangaratta.
The Raiders have a new coach in Sydney Swans great Daryn Cresswell and several key recruits, including former Gold Coast Suns-listed player Todd Grayson.
“It’s going to be tough, we’re coming from a long way back, so there’s a lot of work to be done, but (I’m) certainly not putting any ceiling on how far we can go,” Cresswell said.
