Country finale

by PAUL DAFFEY
The country football season winds up today with a game that has come to be considered the traditional year-ender: the Goulburn Valley league grand final. Scheduling the match in Shepparton on the day after the MCG grand final has proved a marked success in the past 15 years.

Two traditions have arisen to augment the game at Deakin Reserve, which this year features arch rivals Rochester and Echuca. About 500 guests were at Mooroopna yesterday for an AFL grand-final breakfast. Another 250 were expected at Deakin Reserve this morning for the Goulburn Valley breakfast held by Shepparton United, which shares the ground with Shepparton.

A crowd of 9500 attended last year's grand final and a similar crowd is expected today. Few spectators, however, will be tooting horns after each goal.

The ground in the heart of a residential district has parking for only 100 cars. The rest must be parked in the surrounding streets that are blocked off for the day.

About 600 spectators will be seated in the grandstand that was built for a tour match during the Ashes series in the mid-1950s. Most would expect to see Rochester reverse its fortunes of recent years against its old rival.

Echuca defeated the Tigers in the 1997 and 2001 grand finals, with last year's result paving the way for coach Ken Sheldon to return to St Kilda as the coach of VFL club Springvale. The linchpin of the premiership side was former Kangaroos forward Craig Sholl, who was a runaway winner in the competition best-and-fairest after heading north to run a houseboat business on the Murray River.

Sholl has battled this year after missing almost half the season with a shoulder injury. Last week, however, he helped turn the match when he was shifted from the midfield to the forward line with his side four goals behind at the last change. The Murray Bombers overhauled Benalla to win by eight points.

Rochester has defied its comparatively small population to play in seven grand finals since 1989, winning two. The club's linchpin is former Melbourne forward David Williams, the coach since 1992, who retired after last season at 39 years of age.

On-field leadership now falls to veterans Chris McCarty and Tim and Steve Rasmussen, who embody the Tigers' record of holding on to key players for many years.

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