Home ground advantage comes in many forms.
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For the Horsham Demons, it's a familiarity with City Oval's unique narrow wings.
Further down the highway, Ararat and Stawell laugh at their challengers' complaints when they're greeted with temperatures flirt with sub-zero.
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But, is home ground advantage just an excuse in football's elite circles, or is it a real thing in the Wimmera Football League too?
The Mail-Times has dived into the past five seasons' results to try and find out.
The short answer: home ground advantage is real, and some clubs benefit more than most.
Over the past five seasons, home teams have won 54.32 per cent of all Wimmera league games. The figure is not far off that found in the AFL (58.4 per cent) or the VFL (58 per cent), as James Coventry revealed in his acclaimed book Footballistics.
Psychologists believe home ground advantage is born from fan support, comfort with the surroundings and their idiosyncrasies, and no routine-altering travel.
The combination of these factors can motivate players to perform differently on the field.
In a report published by the Australian Psychological Society late last year, University of Western Australia's Neil Mclean said footballers played more aggressively - taking more marks on the lead and ran more with the ball - when in front of a home crowd.
HOW WELL HAS YOUR CLUB FARED AT HOME?
Minyip-Murtoa has been the most successful Wimmera league club at home.
Few make the trip to the Burras' fortress expecting an easy game, and even fewer walk away with a positive result.
Minyip-Murtoa has won 85 per cent of its games at home.
The Burras have lost six games on home turf in the past five seasons - four of which came in a stuttering 2018 campaign.
The reigning premiers edge out the Horsham Demons, and their crosstown rivals Horsham Saints, who both have won 80 per cent of their games at home.
Happy travellers
There's an old adage in football: the best sides are the ones who can win on the road.
So it's little surprise that the four-best performing sides away from home have all featured in a grand final in the past five seasons. Three have even won premierships.
The top honour goes to the league's reigning premiers, Minyip-Murtoa, who boasts an enviable winning record of 70 per cent on the road.
Breathing down the Burras' necks is their 2019 grand final opponents, the Southern Mallee Giants.
Since joining the league, the Giants have only lost five times away from home, leaving the side with a 68 per cent record.
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Horsham Demons (65 per cent) complete the minor placings. A run of five-straight losses on the road late in 2019 damaged the club's record and ultimately saw the Demons miss finals for the first time in 18 years.
Horsham Saints (47 per cent) and Stawell (40 per cent) also enjoy respectable records away from home.
Is two better than one?
It's a quirk of modern country football that some clubs have not one, but two, home grounds.
Products of mergers, like Minyip-Murtoa and Warrack Eagles, alternate between the towns that form their shared identity.
So, do these clubs get double the home ground advantage? Well, not quite.
Moving between towns is hardly a week-on-week-off situation, thanks to oval maintenance, among other things, and statistics suggest some clubs prefer one ground to the other.
The Warrack Eagles have only played eight games at Brim in the past five seasons; walking away with just three wins.
The Eagles' winning record in Warracknabeal, 40 per cent, isn't much better, but the fact the club featured in both of the only two draws in the past five seasons isn't helping its cause.
Minyip-Murtoa has found a happy home in Murtoa, boasting a 95 per cent winning record when they play next to Lake Marma.
When they've travelled to Minyip, the Burras have won 72 per cent of their games.
The curious case of Dimboola
Dimboola's home record doesn't make for pretty reading.
The Roos have won just two games at home in the past five seasons, some 1484 days apart.
Dimboola's 88-point dismantling of the Warrack Eagles in 2019 was the club's first taste of success on home soil since they beat the same opponents in June 2015.
The Roos won just 5 per cent of their home games, but that's not to say the past five seasons haven't provided something to savour for the club on the rise.
Dimboola completed one of the most remarkable upsets of the Wimmera Football League season late in 2019 defeating Horsham at City Oval for the first time since 2002.
"It was most definitely exciting, but it was more special for the club," head coach Justin Beugelaar said at the time.
"It was just great to see their reaction."
A southern Mallee fortress
The Wimmera league's newest club didn't take long to settle into their surroundings.
The Southern Mallee Giants have built a fortress in the southern Mallee since making the move from the Horsham District league.
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The Hopetoun-Beulah combine only lost twice at home in 2019; by 15 points against then-reigning premier Horsham and by one point against Minyip-Murtoa.
In 2018, the Giants also only faltered twice at home by an average margin of two goals.
Beulah has offered more success, with the club winning seven of their eight Wimmera league games played there. Though, a 62 per cent winning record at Hopetoun is no small feat either.
The Giants have long excelled at home, coasting through their 2016 and 2017 Horsham District league campaigns unbeaten.
In its final season in the Mallee Football League in 2015, the club won all four of its games at Hopetoun. The Giants had to settle for two wins and two losses at Beulah.
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