THERE will be a sense of deja vu this weekend when Nyah District and Woorinen meet to decide who will be crowned this season’s Swan Hill & District Cricket Association A Grade Premiers.
It’s been almost 12 months to the day since both clubs played out one of the classic grand finals, with the Tigers recording a seven-run win over the gallant Demons to secure their clubs seventh premiership.
Understandably, the memories of that day will be mixed between tomorrow’s combatants – depending on which side of the result they sit – but for Nyah District captain Ben Shadbolt, he’s hoping the pain of that fateful afternoon may just drive his team when the big moments arrive this time around.
“Absolutely last year is a motivating factor for us – nobody ever wants to lose a grand final, it’s never nice, but it’s a massive motivator now that we’ve earned another opportunity to try and get the result to go our way this time,” Shadbolt said.
“We’ll have a little bit of a different line-up this time around, obviously there’s no Joel (Walsh), but in saying that we’ve welcomed a couple of others in – regardless, we’ll be desperate to avenge ourselves.”
Woorinen on the other hand will be looking to go back-to-back for the first time since their four-peat run between 2008-09 and 2011-12, with the Tigers celebrating the 10-year reunion of that 2011-12 premiership earlier this season – which coincidently, was against Nyah District.
Woorinen skipper Jason Mangiameli was upbeat about the opportunity that had been presented to his side when speaking with The Guardian earlier this week.
“Being one of the last two teams left and giving ourselves an opportunity to win a grand final is exciting,” Mangiameli said.
“In terms of the game itself, we’re pretty confident that if we turn up, we’ll be in with a great chance.
“Obviously the Nyah boys have finished on top of the ladder and have had a great season and they’re very deserving of being in the grand final as well – it should be a very tightly contested game I would have thought.”
While tomorrow’s A Grade decider at the Swan Hill Recreation Reserve will take centre stage, it won’t be the only final act to play out in this weekend. The B Grade grand final will also be held on Saturday between Nullawil-Culgoa and Tooleybuc at the Ken Harrison Reserve – while Sea Lake-Woomelang and Balranald will battle it out for glory in the C Grade decider at North Park.
In the juniors, Wandella will be chasing their first piece of silverware in the SHDCA when they play St Mary’s Tyntynder/Swan Hill in the under-16s, while the Northern Razorbacks will be aiming for their third straight under-13s premiership will they play Sea Lake-Woomelang.
