Echuca will be back after grand final heartache

Among those is the fact Darby Henderson and Noah Wheeler are game breakers in their own right and with some fine-tuning will be able to produce in top gear for four quarters of football.

Between Sam Willoughby and Cooper Barber the Murray Bombers have the makings of a mosquito fleet to hover at the fall of the ball from their group of attacking talls.

And the defensive duo of Peter Faulks and Cam Valentine remains one of the best in the region - when fully fit.

“There can only be one winner today, so unfortunately the mood will be sombre for a while,” Echuca co-coach Simon Maddox said.

“Credit to Ky they won, I actually think we didn't play that well, so to get within 20 points is probably not a bad result, but the margin is irrelevant when you lose.

“We were brave, we put our head over the footy and everything like that, but probably they just had a bit more polish than us today.

“So good on Paulo (Paul Newman) and the Ky boys and Sheldo (Sam Sheldon), (they will) enjoy it, and hopefully it spurs us on to come back next year and be bigger and better.

“It was a really good team effort, most of them are pretty sore actually, so it was a physical game and a couple of injuries probably didn't help.

“But we've got six months to get over them.

“I didn't really want to single out anyone, but Peter Faulks with basically one shoulder was great on (Brad) Mangan.

“It's a bit sombre at the moment, a pretty hollow (feeling).

“We'll go back to the drawing board and hopefully we'll come back and be back next year.”

After all three football teams - as well as a pair of netball squads - made the grand final the depth at Echuca is clear for all to see as well.

“Across the board at the club it's fantastic,” Maddox said.

“We had three sides in and a lot of netball grades as well, so we're heading in the right direction.”