UPON driving into Colbinabbin, a sign announces the population is just 120. Colbo, as the locals refer to it, is a blink-and-you-miss-it place.

Yet despite its meagre number of residents, the tiny town, located amid picturesque farmland about 60 kilometres north-east of Bendigo, still supports a football club. And not just any old club, but one that has claimed five premierships in the past decade.

Last year, Colbinabbin reached the Heathcote and District Football League grand final, although a tough run through the finals resulted in a thumping from Elmore. This season, the Grasshoppers have lost only one game and another tilt at a premiership beckons. So, what keeps Colbo at the top?

"Because of the town's size, it's not big enough to have other clubs," said president and local farmer David Hill, who at one stage had four sons playing in the senior team.

"There's no golf club and the bowls club has mainly people who are past football, so there's nothing to compete against. Everyone concentrates on the footy and netball clubs through the winter period."

Colbo's unofficial historian and curator of its beautifully smooth oval, Frank Stewart, said the foundations for today's period of success were laid by former president Mick Morgan. After taking control in 1969, Morgan, after whom Colbo's home ground is named, headed the committee for almost two decades.

"He revitalised the set-up of the club," Stewart said. "He probably worked a bit harder on getting families involved and we started getting coaches from Bendigo who brought out players. Since then it's been a great era to be involved with the club, that's for sure."

Driven by Morgan's influence, Colbinabbin broke a 25-year premiership drought in 1975 and won another flag in '78.

Morgan's sons, Jim and Phil, have continued the tradition both on and off the field. Phil, known universally as Toot, is a bush footy legend. He won two HDFL best and fairest medals at Colbinabbin and many others during stints with Golden Square, Shepparton United and Rochester. Earlier he had tried out at St Kilda but found "it was too serious for me so I headed back to the bush, back home."

A bloke who likes a beer and a smoke, Toot returned to Colbo late in his career and helped the club win a hat-trick of premierships. He retired aged 39 after playing in the 2004 flag.

Many famous local names remain in the Grasshoppers' teams, including Trent McCormick, whose father played in the 1975 premiership, and Guy Rathjen, whose family has a long association with the club.

But the committee members say its present healthy state (the reserves are on top of the ladder) owes a lot to an influx of students from Latrobe University's Bendigo campus. They are drawn by Colbinabbin's reputation as a very friendly and social club.

"It's nothing to have 30 or 40 spectators at training on a Thursday night," said secretary Jim Morgan, who played alongside Neale Daniher at Assumption College and has since followed in his father's footsteps by devoting himself to the Colbo cause.

"There's also a select few who come to training on a Tuesday night. They come to pontificate and solve the world's issues while standing around the fire drums. They've become know as 'the Drummers'. They're the real die-hards."

Last weekend, more than a dozen university students, who grew up in towns as far flung as Deniliquin and Bairnsdale, played in either the seniors or reserves.

It was a big day on the calendar as the Grasshoppers took on arch-nemesis, Mount Pleasant. Based in the tiny town of Toolleen, 34 kilometres south-west of Colbinabbin, the Mount Pleasant Football Club has its own extraordinary history of success, despite drawing on a similarly sparse population.

Although fierce on the field, the rivalry between Mounts and Colbo is one based on mutual respect, friendship and family ties.

Jim and Toot Morgan's mother was from a Mount Pleasant family, while Frank Stewart married a girl from "over the hill".

"There have been girls from here who have married into Mounts as well," said Stewart. "I suppose in both clubs there's a fairly strong contingent with Irish backgrounds as well. We're fairly compatible, although not before 5pm on a Saturday."

Now retired, Brian Ellis completed an unlikely double in his playing days. He played in a premiership with Mounts before buying a property at Colbinabbin. He subsequently joined the Grasshoppers and won a flag with them. His son Damian now lines up at centre half-back in the senior team.

In each of the past 18 seasons, either Colbo or Mount Pleasant has played off in the Heathcote league grand final. In that time, they've won 15 flags between them.

A week ago, Colbo secured bragging rights for the moment when it cruised to a 52-point win. Led by star recruits Patrick O'Brien (formerly of Benalla) and Nick Knight (ex-Rochester), the Grasshoppers' win kept them second on the ladder, behind unbeaten Elmore.

Such a commanding performance certainly impressed the club president. "We thought we were in for a year of stabilising and rebuilding but we're right back up there, which is great," he said. The victory also continued the dream start for first-year coach Brent "Funky" Millar. A Tasmanian, he spent eight years in the navy, then lived in Sydney and Dublin before arriving in Bendigo during 2006.

Former Fitzroy and Sydney defender Rowan Warfe recommended he head out to Colbo and he has never looked back.

"They gave me a few beers and I signed that night," Millar said. "That was after just one training session."

With his wife now a regular in the A-grade netball team, Millar says it's the social atmosphere that is Colbinabbin's greatest asset.

"You ask the uni kids who are out here and they would all say the same thing. Everyone at the club makes you feel welcome. It's a great family club and just a great footy club."