Shepparton United to rally the old guard for 1974 GVL senior football premiership reunion on Saturday

That wasn’t all.

On a balmy Sunday afternoon at Deakin Reserve Shepparton United defied the odds.

The Demons felled the giant of Euroa, securing their sixth senior Goulburn Valley League football premiership courtesy of a statement 15.16 (106) to 9.11 (65) victory.

This Saturday, they’ll get to do it all again — sort of.

Though the vast majority of the Demons are in their 70s and won’t take to the field at Deakin, it’ll serve as the scene of a greatly-awaited 50-year premiership reunion.

They’ll reminisce about “that” game, share laughs and, like 50 years ago, tip in a sherbert or two.

Des Campbell, who player-coached the 1974 side to glory, is keen to see the band back together a half-century on from when they made history at the D.

“I think we’ve had a few reunions since, but I think this one is going to be pretty special because 50 years is pretty unique,” he said.

“It was definitely unique with the floods, the grand final was October 13.”

Remarkably, the infamous 1974 Shepparton floods pushed the GVL grand final date a fortnight or so back past its usual slate.

Stranger still, United played Echuca four times in five weeks in qualifying to meet Euroa in the big dance — and by no means were the Demons favourites.

United’s eldest — Ross McKellar and Barry Guy — were not exactly veterans at 29 years old, while the young core consisted of teenage talent like Murray Burls, Paul Kenna (17), Chris Woodman, Wayne Hovey and Michael Stone (18).

“We were a pretty young side; even as coach, I was only 23 or 24 or whatever,” Campbell said.

“I don’t think our expectations were that high at the start of the year; Euroa was certainly the side to beat.

“We were competitive, we got a double chance, so I think we finished third.

“There were signs during the year that we had a lot of ability in our side. I’ve told many people that I think we had the best footballer in the Goulburn Valley in our side.”

If you know your 1970s GVL footy, it’s not hard to guess who Campbell is referring to.

A five-foot-nine forward who defied logic with his wizardry and wicked kick, Trevor Eddy was undoubtedly a star in the fiercely competitive cut and thrust of country footy.

Campbell labelled Eddy a “bloody freak”, recounting how the diminutive Demon ended up at Deakin Reserve.

“I remember the year before, he won a couple of best-and-fairests at Wunghnu and I played schoolboy footy with him, but it wasn’t high on the agenda that we had to recruit Trevor Eddy,” Campbell said.

“He moved into a bank in Shepp and, as it turned out, Fred West was on the committee at United and he was the boss of the bank there.

“Long story short, first praccy game against Tat he’s kicked about 10 goals and we’ve all gone ‘what’s going on here’ and he’s just kept doing it every week.

“If there was a pack in the goalsquare and a quick kick for a goal, you always knew it was him.

“Why I say he was the best I seen; he did it in Goulburn Valley (interleague) games as well.”

Eddy won the GVL goal-kicking gong in 1973 with 125 majors — more than doubling Daryl Twitt’s winning tally the year prior — before going on to boot 114 during United’s flag season.

But even with a razor-sharp forward of Eddy’s calibre, United was still the underdog.

Well, in the final, at least.

Euroa’s bulldozing game style and big-bodied list had steamrolled most of the competition in ’74, meaning the Demons had to get creative if they were to spanner the Magpies’ machine.

Eddy went onto the half-forward flank, dragging Euroa gun Trevor Hardy out to mark him while the six-foot-four Woodman transitioned into full-forward.

Safe to say, in Campbell’s eyes it worked.

“We had to try a few different things during the grand final because they were too good for us during the year,” Campbell said.

“There was obviously no difference between us and Echuca, and they (Euroa) belted Echuca in the second semi.

“We had a fairly tall side, so we sort of picked our side a little bit around that and they weren’t overly big on their back half.

“It was like they worried about us instead of us worrying about them.”

Euroa may not have been worried at half-time as the score read 52-35.

But it wouldn’t take long for concern to seep in.

A five-goal third-term sling-shotted Shepparton United to what eventually was a cruisy 41-point grand final win over a titan Magpies team, and Campbell was right in the thick of it.

Having already starred earlier in the Demons’ finals campaign, United’s skipper had explosions of ability throughout the grand final — including a demonstration of power with a superb second-quarter goal.

It resulted in Campbell and three others from United’s flag side climbing to the elite level in the year following their illustrious victory.

“Four guys went down to Melbourne the year after: Mick Power and Wayne Hovey went to Geelong and me and Chrissy Woodman went to Melbourne,” he said.

“That wouldn’t happen very often — four guys from a GV side going down to a VFL/AFL club the year after — that was just a signature of the potential we had.

“And that’s not counting guys like Trevor Eddy and a few other really good players that stayed with United.”

While some scaled the sport’s heights in the VFL and others kicked on in the GVL, Shepparton United’s 1974 team sure was fierce.

It’ll be honoured on Saturday — and others will be remembered.

Of the 25-strong list of seniors from that year, two have since died with Mick O’Connell and Ross Oliver sure to be among the Demons’ thoughts during this weekend’s reunion.

Meanwhile, nobody within the United cohort seems to know where the 24th man — David Wilson — is, and hope he may make a surprise cameo at Deakin Reserve come Saturday.

But no matter who, or how many, turn up, one thing is for sure.

The Demons will rock the D just like they did 50 years ago.