It will be a local derby in Deniliquin with the Picola League season opening matches between Deni Rovers and Mathoura tomorrow.
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Both clubs start their seasons with a full day of football and netball matches.
In the senior football, Mathoura senior coach Adam Bourke said his side have prepared to give a good contest to start his second season in charge, despite challenges they’ve faced.
“We’re looking forward to it but unfortunately, we do have five or six of our senior players out.
“One has a bucks party and others have pre-arranged commitments.
“We’re not starting with our best 22, which is unfortunate, and collectively we’re coming from a long way back.
“For instance, against Deni our average margin was around 28 goals last season
“So we’re under no illusions about the task that lays ahead of us to be more consistent.”
Bourke said providing a silver lining heading into 2026 is a better preseason and four practice matches, including half matches in preparation.
“We want to play competitive football but have lacked overall fitness in previous seasons, so it will be good to see where we land.
“Last season we probably lacked strength and conditioning skills by hand and foot, but that has been a focus.
“Although the last six games of last season we got the average margin down to about 10 goals, our aim is to improve on that.
“We’re looking forward to a fair few ins, including Beau Ogden. He’s a big ruckman we recruited from Longwood, which is a position we were really deficient in last year.
“Jaydan Turner has come in as a midfielder, Jordan Jones is another utility, and we also have Brodie Watts.
“Also, hopefully, our core group of players will be better again this year including Logan Munro, Mitch Worsnop, Phoenix Evans, Nick Dolan, Kobie Cox and Jake Rawe can hopefully develop and be a bit more consistent as a forward in front of goals this year.”
After a competitive practice match against Echuca United, Bourke is confident.
“We’re still going out there to win the game, don’t worry about that, but let me put it this way, I’d be really disappointed if we got belted by 20 goals.
“I think we’re good enough to keep the games closer within the five to ten goal range.
“Last year we weren’t winning the ball out of the midfield.”
Helping inspire the Mathoura playing group ahead of the weekend has been AFL games record holder Brent ‘Boomer’ Harvey, who was in the region and attended training on Tuesday.
Bourke knows Harvey from his time in the armed forces and through football, and said it was one of the best nights of training he’s had at the club.
For the Deni Rovers, Alex Hay is returning to the role of senior coach for one more season and said the first match has been hotly anticipated.
“I think the general feeling around the club is excitement,” Hay said.
“It’s been a long preseason and it’s always a big build up to round one, but we have attacked the last few months just a little bit differently and made some adjustments that we hope to implement.
“I think at the end of it though, when you’ve done so much training, all you want to do is get stuck into some competition. We’re all really looking forward to it.”
Hay said the team’s game style will build on what has worked in previous years.
“Things won’t look too different to how we’ve played the last few years.
“Game style can tend to take time to develop, but we feel like it clicked last year.
“We’ve added a few more avenues to get some more speed on the ball going into our forward line, which is always a balance.
“Beyond that, defensively we have really focused on improving our contested side of the ball so if nothing else, we’d like to see high pressure applied all around the ground.”
Hay is optimistic about his squad and growing from their preliminary final finish last year, while trying not to be complacent.
“I’ve been really impressed with the application of the whole group over the preseason, and a number of guys have given themselves the opportunity to have a really strong season.
“Hayden Barker has had an outstanding preseason and will find himself up the ground a bit more, which is exciting.
“Same for Tyson Willis and Logan Ives, who have just been really consistent and can expect to have a real impact through the middle of the ground.
“Last season was a step in the right direction for us, but there is always just so much change that occurs in the off season so it would be negligent to hang your hat on that.
“We know that everyone starts off on a level playing field, and we’ll treat it that way, always looking to improve.”
The matches will take place tomorrow at Memorial Park in Deniliquin, with the Rovers’ first home fixture marking their season launch social event.
It will take place following the matches, from 5pm in the Rovers’ Clubrooms, with a player Calcutta auction along with a barbecue and bar open.