After eight years in senior coaching roles with the club, Maddox is stepping down with a league record four premierships on his resume as a coach and co-coach.
Former Echuca star and Geelong VFL player Ben Reid will be joint non-playing co-coach with recent grand final hero Angus Byrne next season.
Maddox and former Carlton champion Andrew Walker co-coached the Murray Bombers from 2018 to 2024, then Walker stepped down and Liam Tenace became his deputy for one year last season.
This year, gun forward Byrne took over from Tenace, and with Maddox took Echuca to its fourth flag in five years.
Maddox said he would stay involved with the club and was confident most of this season’s premiership line-up would be playing again next season, which is not good news for rival sides.
Maddox said there would be the usual fringe players other clubs would no doubt target as recruits, but the core senior players had already committed to stay on.
And Maddox has a simple explanation of why Echuca is the league’s pacesetter.
“The club puts a lot time into its juniors and they are the future of any club,” he said.
One interesting recruit Echuca missed out on during his tenure as co-coach was current Fremantle star forward Josh Treacy.
From Cohuna, Treacy was to play a season with Echuca when COVID hit in 2019.
He played in a practice match with the Murray Bombers, which had Fremantle talent scouts scrutinising … and drooling.
Although not picked up in the AFL draft, he was selected by Fremantle in the 2020 rookie draft at number seven.
It’s history now he is one of the AFL’s top key forwards.
And wouldn’t Echuca’s GVL rivals have shuddered if they had to contend with Treacy, and Angus and Hugh Byrne in the same line-up?
HOF honours held up
Kyabram Football Netball Club won’t be naming its third batch of Hall of Famers this year.
Hold-ups in the renovations of the Wilf Cox Complex, home of the Bombers, have forced the event to be postponed until next year.
A committee headed by former great and club games record holder Tony McDonell, who has already earned the honour, is looking to add to the list of Hall of Famers and club legends.
Two former Kyabram coaches and club stalwarts in Chris Salter and Lawrie Casey are also on the selection panel.
Players to have already earned Hall of Fame status are the original inductees in 2015: Jeff Cooper, Arthur Caldwell, Bob Vick, Ross Dillon, Wilf Cox, Lawrie Casey, Bernie Harlen and Charlie Stewart.
Chris Stuhldreier, Chris Atkins, Paul Newman, Richard Clay and Shane Fitzsimmons were added to this list in 2017 along with players from the early times in the club’s history in Roy Outram, Jack Graeme, Tom Holmes, Jim Bourke and Richard Doidge.
Players who have been further recognised with legend status are Wilf Cox, Arthur Caldwell, Lawrie Casey, Tony McDonell and Dick Clay.
Mr McDonell said arrangements were now under way to organise a function to name, honour and celebrate its newest inductees, preferably an early season event in 2027.
Country’s top 100
Weekly Times football writer David Johnston has completed the marathon task of naming country Victoria and the Riverina’s top Aussie rules football team for 2026 and its 100 best players.
Think about that and you’ll agree its a marathon task and subject to a lot of debate.
His top 100 players for the season include seven GVL players.
The highest ranked of these is Shepparton livewire Luke Smith at number seven. He was the only GVL player to make the top 10.
Two of Smith’s teammates also featured — dual Morrison medallist Ash Holland was pick number 15 and Lewis McShane got the number 71 ranking.
Other GVL players to make the top 100 were Kyabram ruckman Zac Norris at number 54, Echuca’s Tom Evans (47), Benalla’s Max Marriott (36) and Rochester’s Mitch Trewhella (97).
The Murray League players to make the cut were Congupna’s BJ Squire (21), Cobram’s Tyron Baden (37), Perry Lewis-Smith (51), Mulwala’s Will Cookson (31) and Nathalia’s Liam Evans (69).
Moe’s Myles Poholke got the number one ranking from Ararat’s Tom Williamson and Gisborne’s Brad Bernacki.
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