Albury teams posted upsets in the crackerjack closest round of the first six on Saturday.
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Premiers Albury shocked Wangaratta by 19 points, while North Albury stunned the league with the round's biggest win - 61 points - against Wodonga.
You could have written your own odds prior to the round that the winless Hoppers would do that.
The averaging winning margin was slashed from the 82 points in round two to just 31.
As well as the Tigers-Pies blockbuster, Wodonga Raiders pipped their former mentor Daryn Cresswell's Wangaratta Rovers by nine points, while Lavington posted the same margin against Yarrawonga.
But the highlight was North's thumping of an understrength Bulldogs with winning coach Isaac Muller breaking down in tears.
"Yeah absolutely, the worst thing I did was look at my mother as I walked off the ground," he said.
Yeah absolutely, the worst thing I did was look at my mother as I walked off the ground.
- Isaac Muller on the emotional first win
North had lost its first five games by an average of 116 points and were considered certainties for the wooden spoon.
"We'd played good five-10-15 minute patches, even a good quarter, but it was a good four (against Wodonga)," Muller said.
The big ruckman became the youngest stand-alone coach in O and M history as a 22-year-old and admits it's been a rollercoaster.
"I suppose the pressure I've been under, not only footy, but the drought (Muller is an agronomist)," he said.
"It's the moment before you lay down in bed you think about it all, it's really hard.
"There's times where you really struggle, my partner and my family are the ones who cop my emotion.
"These days it's not wrong to be emotional.
"It (the win) would be up there with winning the premiership (with Bundoora) in 2017."
There's now a general bye with the league facing Mornington Peninsula Nepean.
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