Albury United are back-to-back league champions after beating Wangaratta 5-2

Mere mathematics had prevented the Greens from celebrating the title earlier but their victory at Jelbart Park finally put the equation beyond any doubt.

The most successful club in the Albury-Wodonga Football Association can now add the 2023 championship to those it won outright in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2022.

And some of the dynasties from that list are now being mirrored by Campbell's team, who have swept all before them since sharing the 2021 title with Wangaratta when a COVID lockdown cut the season short.

United have won two league titles, two FA Cups and a cup final in the interim and now have the chance to complete a double treble with finals just a week away.

"Everyone says they're a competitor but some people actually really are," Campbell said.

"They hate losing and they always want to win and that's definitely the case with our group.

"There's a really strong desire to win every game they play - and I feed that.

"I like that.

"Of course, you have to steer it in the right direction but that's what helps us.

"Even when things aren't quite going well, they're still pushing to win and that bodes well for the team.

"It's a mixture of personalities, as most teams are, but they've got that streak in them that they want to do well and they want to win."

United won 15 of their 18 league games this season, including eight on the bounce after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Myrtleford on June 25.

Most notably, they thrashed title rivals Cobram 4-0 on their own patch with 10 men on a day when they could have fallen five points behind the Roar.

"Since the Myrtleford game, the boys have been excellent," Campbell said.

"To score 43 goals and only concede three, we found a groove and played the way we know we can.

"That's the best part about it: when the title was on the line, we found some good form and the boys have really done well so it's a big credit to them.

"It seems this year a lot of clubs had injuries, four or five players out of the starting XI and we were no different.

"It was all hands to the pump there for a while and the Cobram game was a really good example.

"Some of the ressies had to step on do a job and they did really well.

"It's been a squad effort, not just 11 players.

"A really good indicator of the strength of your squad is when you can get three or four guys step in and play a role."

But now boasting an unparalleled total of 20 league and cup wins in the top flight of AWFA's male competition, what is it about Albury United?

"You can't put your finger on these things," Campbell said.

"In the AFL, and other clubs, they talk about the winning culture and the generation I came through, which Scott Kidd coached with Cade Webb, Iain Dalitz and that generation from the late 90s, we had some really good success across that period and into the 2000s.

"I think we all just realised what it took to win, that it's not just handed to you and it takes a lot of effort and hard work.

"When you've expended all that hard work, you want a result at the end of it, you want something you can point to and once we learnt how to win, it's always been in and around the senior squad.

"Caleb Martin's a great example, he's lived through a lot of that period and Ryan Luty, when he was a younger footballer playing for us in 2006-07 when we won a couple of leagues and cups back then.

"That's just the way those guys know how to play.

"They're always driven to try to win - and enjoy themselves."

Alex Howard and Seb Dalitz played all 18 games for United, with Aidan Rees, Jay Barker, Jordan Hore, Melkie Woldemichael and Sajan Mahji only missing a handful between them.

United will face the eighth-placed team in the quarter-finals at Jelbart Park East next Sunday.

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