John “Shorty” Martiniello said the 2015 Benalla premiership team had now joined a select group.
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Some of Benalla’s 1973 premiership-winning side were on hand to celebrate Sunday’s victory.
“Those ’73 boys who won the last premiership, I can see a sense of pride from them (on Sunday),” Martiniello said.
“They were getting tired of being called the last ones.
“Now they’ve got something in common they can share with these blokes.
“The mateship that came out in ’73 still exists today.”
Benalla left the Ovens and Murray league in 1997 and re-joined the Goulburn Valley league.
Its last GV flag was in 1940, while Benalla won O and M flags in 1953, 1962-63 and 1973.
The Saints went agonisingly close to breaking their premiership drought last year, while they also made the grand final in 2006.
But they fell short against Seymour that year.
