You might not have ordinarily felt inclined to check out the 2023-24 finals series in reflection given an all-new quest for premiership glory is right around the corner.
If you do, though, your curiosity would be rewarded, with one glaring question on the mind after looking back.
How new is it all, really?
You can start, of course, by making the obvious point that we have five of the six teams which qualified last season back for another crack at the trophy.
Tatura is the outlier, breaking a long-standing absence to qualify sixth following a dramatic final day, with 2023-24’s losing grand final side Mooroopna making way.
That’s not the end of this season’s good news for the Howley Oval dwellers, with the other two senior outfits at Tatura making their respective finals in B-grade and D-grade in addition to having already claimed the lower-grade T20 title on home soil in January.
It was generally understood that this campaign would be a rebuilding one for the Cats, though, with internal and external noise pointing that way all along before Henry Barrow’s side registered a 10th-placed finish.
You once again have a runaway side on top, with Waaia having set the pace extraordinarily well during a 2023-24 home and away campaign which had only one loss. Now, it’s the era of Central Park-St Brendan’s following in kind.
Tyler Larkin’s men aspired to more after a week one finals exit to Katandra that was deemed far from acceptable at the time and have delivered in spades throughout a dominant run this regular season.
The Tigers put a firm exclamation point on their premiership favouritism by persistently chasing down reigning premier Kyabram in the final round, earning a home final against Tatura.
At the other end of the scale, there was a wildly familiar dose of agony on that same Saturday of play for Numurkah.
Twelve months on from having sacrificed a commanding position to drop their final game to Central Park-St Brendan’s on home soil, only to watch Kyabram steal finals from under their noses with the final play of the day, Old Students would do the damage this time around.
While the Redbacks were the beneficiaries, they were given an inch and took a mile by persevering through to the premiership — meaning the gauntlet is firmly laid for Katandra, seventh at the start of the final day before managing to qualify, to make a similar move.
We will see the first weekend of finals take place across two of the same three venues as last year, too; the Bombers may not have claimed another minor premiership, but they’re not left out with another home encounter.
It’s all red and black in the realm’s northern district this Saturday and Sunday as Waaia gets set to tangle with Kyabram in an affair which, on paper, appears to have the greatest scoring potential of the three games.
Kyle Mueller delivered his thesis when these sides last met, notching his season-high unbeaten 150 as the Redbacks took points at a canter.
Tatura, for all its toils and the late lifeline which befell Daniel Coombs’ side, will take on the unenviable task of tangling with Central Park in enemy territory at Deakin Reserve.
Both these sides have done plenty of jobs with the ball and it would feel virtually unpredictable if the game were instead played at notoriously bowler-friendly Howley Oval, but the Tigers’ last outing will provide a world of confidence to go at least one step further than last season.
Finally, a much-improved Nagambie side which coach Zac Winter-Irving tipped for a far higher ceiling this season gets the chance to make a statement on familiar confines.
Despite possessing a likely double chance in the offing, unless all three away sides can post wins this weekend, the Lakers will want to set things straight from the word go down south against a Katandra side which can produce on either side of the game on its day.
The Eagles came ever so close to claiming 10 points at home to Shepparton Youth Club United and all eyes will be on Andrew Riordan following his heroic individual exploits last time out.
Oh, and of course, rain rain go away, etc.
