WHILE no side is unbeatable, Albury certainly had an aura of invincibility about it for the majority of the past decade.
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Not since the Wangaratta Rovers' golden era during the 1970s has one side dominated the competition as much as the all-conquering Tigers.
Similar to Albury the Hawks played in nine grand finals for the decade.
The Tigers won six flags and narrowly failed to match Wangaratta Rovers' amazing record of seven premierships.
Arguably, Albury could have at least matched the Hawks' run of seven flags except for the signing of the recruit of the decade in Brendan Fevola at Yarrawonga.
To say Fevola's arrival at J.C. Lowe Oval in 2012 was profound would be a massive understatement.
The crowd for the dual Coleman medallist's first match for the Pigeons at Mulwala's Lonsdale Reserve on Easter Sunday was bigger than most grand finals during the decade.
Fevola almost single-handedly revived the flagging interest in the league quickly becoming bored of the Tiger domination and lop-sided nature of the competition.
The renowned showman didn't disappoint and lived up to the hype, especially in big matches where he thrived on the big stage including 15 goals in three successive grand finals.
His four-year stint at J.C. Lowe Oval from 2012-15 met with instant success as the Pigeons claimed back-to-back flags in his first two seasons.
The Pigeons almost made it a hat-trick of flags in 2014 when they were surging in the final-quarter only to be denied by a tiring but brave Albury.
Albury claimed a hat-trick itself from 2014-16 as Lavington emerged as the biggest threat to the Tigers' dominance.
The Tigers defeated Lavington in successive deciders in 2015-16 and had the chance to emulate Wangaratta who holds the record of the most consecutive flags of four from 1949-52.
However, their record equalling attempt was thwarted by a Michael Newton inspired Wangaratta who booted a match-winning eight goals to stun the Tigers.
The Tigers were able to exact some revenge when they won their sixth and final flag of the decade in 2018 against the Magpies.
Lavington claimed a well-deserved flag last year after suffering its fair share of finals heartache throughout the middle of the decade.
The Panthers suffered consecutive preliminary final losses in 2013-14 as well as back-to-back grand final defeats the following two years.
Interestingly, the two fiercest rivals of the 2010s in Albury and Yarrawonga both won 16 finals.
But it is the Tigers who boast a far superior record with six flags to the Pigeons two.
While only four sides made it to to the biggest match of the season, all sides with the exception of Wodonga played in at least one final throughout the decade.
