The passionate followers of the Picola United Football-Netball Club know plenty about finals droughts.
After all, the club hasn't won a senior football premiership since it was formed through an amalgamation of the Picola and Yalca North clubs in 1971. Picola's last senior flag before the merger was in 1967, Yalca North won their last one in 1939.
That long premiership drought probably won't be broken this season. But Picola United, a member of the Picola and District league's North West Division, are very much on the improve.
This season the club's senior side has qualified for its first finals campaign since 2007. And although the Blues were beaten by Jerilderie in the qualifying final last weekend, their supporters have been up and about again ahead of Sunday's meeting with Tocumwal in the first semi at Strathmerton.
"I'm standing here having a beer, and to the right of me there's a big group of people standing around a fire drum having a beer and watching training," Picola United vice-president Brad Caldwell told The Age on Thursday evening. "They're all pretty excited about it. The netball courts are also full, because we've got our four netball teams in the finals as well. So there's a real buzz around the place."
Picola United went closest to ending their premiership drought during the mid-1990s, but couldn't overcome the all-powerful Waaia sides that won five flags during that decade.
The Blues were then expected to benefit from the split of the Picola and District league prior to the 2009 season.
They were included in the supposedly weaker North West Division, while traditionally strong clubs like Waaia, Tungamah, Shepparton East and Katandra were grouped together in the South East Division. Yet Picola United's senior side went backwards following the split.
The team won six games in 2009, three in 2010, then recorded only two wins and finished on the bottom of the ladder in 2011. And it continued to struggle during the following three seasons.
"We've always been a great social club, but the committee at the time wasn't prepared to spend much money on footballers," Caldwell said.
Although the club celebrated reserves premierships in 2009 and 2010, the lack of success at senior level became a bugbear for many people.
As Caldwell recalled: "We got to a point where we just decided, 'Enough's enough. We're going to have to start recruiting to field a team'. So we've gone and recruited back a lot of boys that had played juniors here but had gone off and played in Nathalia, Shepparton, Echuca and Moama.
"We've topped up with some other local talent, and I think all up we've had 17 recruits for the year. Rather than going out and getting one or two star players and paying them a big heap of money, we've spread our budget across all of those recruits. And we've got an incentive program for the locals."
Picola United went into this season with high hopes and a new senior coach after Jon Varcoe, who led Waaia to a grand final win over Picola United back in his playing days in the '90s, was elevated into the key role.
Inspired by their new boss and strengthened by their many recruits, the Blues won their first six games, a run that included a one-point victory over one of the flag favourites, Strathmerton.
Their winning streak came to a halt when they suffered a 10-goal loss to Jerilderie, who have won the past three premierships, in round eight. But they were soon back into gear.
Varcoe's men ended up finishing the home and away season third on the ladder with a 13-3 record.
There was plenty of support for Picola United when they took on second-placed Jerilderie in the qualifying final last weekend. And the Blues were looking good when they led by a point at half-time. However, Jerilderie kicked five goals to two in the second half and prevailed by 22 points. The Demons' star sharp-shooter, Aaron Purcell, who has kicked 473 goals in the past three seasons, kicked eight of their 10 majors.
Having secured a double-chance, Picola United now get another crack at securing a long-awaited finals victory.
Given the Blues won four-and-a-half more games than Tocumwal during the home and away season, they will enter the first semi-final carrying a burden of expectation.
But even if the result doesn't go their way, the club's future seems bright. "We're busy trying to build the club culture up so we've got an era of success of the next three or four years," Caldwell said. "We're desperate to win a flag, but we want to do it the right way. We're not going to try and do it in one year and stuff the club in the process."
BUSH FOOTY FINALS
Picola United are not the only club breaking a finals drought on Sunday afternoon. The Belmont Lions, who play in the Geelong and District league, are lining up in their first senior footy final since 2007. They are taking on Bannockburn in an elimination final.
By Adam McNicol