By RUSSELL BENNETT
WEST GIPPSLAND CRICKET ASSOCIATION PREMIER DIVISION – GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
KOOWEERUP has been the team of the past decade in the top flight of the West Gippsland Cricket Association, and this weekend the Demons are aiming for immortality.
Not since the late 1960s to mid-1970s has a WGCA side won four first XI premierships in six years. Of all clubs, it was Kooweerup that achieved the feat back then.
But these Demons will be out to re-write the record books of the Premier era on the weekend at Beaconsfield’s Holm Park Road when they take on their arch-rival Cardinia in a repeat of last season’s decider.
After rolling Tooradin and Merinda Park respectively in the semi-finals on the weekend, Cardinia and Kooweerup will face off for the fifth time in a WGCA top tier grand final since the 2006/07 decider at Pakenham’s Toomuc Reserve.
And there’s not much – if anything – they don’t know about each other. While some of the players have changed over the years, the two teams’ tough, uncompromising style of cricket has remained. It’s a trademark shared by both.
So much of top-level cricket takes place between the ears at the best of times, but this weekend at Beaconsfield that statement will be elevated to a new stratosphere.
Vivid, painful memories of the Demons’ triumph last season are still firmly etched in the minds of many of Cardinia’s first XI.
Set just 159 for victory, the wounded Bulls were rolled for just 126.
So, Cardinia skipper Neil Barfuss, player-coach Simon Parrott, aggressive stroke-maker Alex Nooy, wicket-keeper Luke Turner, and spearhead Dean Henwood will line up for the anthem on Saturday with one thing on their minds – payback.
Make no mistake about it, either. The mind games have already started between the two sides. With so little likely to separate them on-field, both Cardinia and Kooweerup are searching for every competitive advantage they can get.
“We’re very happy to be in a grand final but we’re not finished yet,” said Barfuss.
“We owe them one.”
Yet, the skipper of a side that’s so far undefeated this season refuses to buy into its win-loss record. His men have had a few wake-up calls along the way.
“The undefeated thing doesn’t matter anymore – this is a grand final now.
“There’s only one game left and that’s the one that matters.”
Barfuss didn’t hesitate when it came to naming a potential Kooweerup match-winner outside of Chris O’Hara and skipper Michael Giles at the top of the order.
“You can’t go past Matty Davey,” he said.
“He could break the game open on either day – he’s done it before, having played in all those premierships.”
Barfuss said Kooweerup – with their proven track record – deserved to go into the game as favourites. Unsurprisingly, Giles disagrees.
“It’s a real toss of the coin, I mean, how do you tip someone?” he said.
“They’ve got to go in as favourites – they’re undefeated this year.”
But Giles has also played in a number of losing grand finals – as have O’Hara and Davey.
“We know the adulation that comes with winning, but also the disappointment of losing,” he said.
Sport doesn’t build character – it reveals it. Now we wait until Saturday to see what will be revealed at Holm Park Road.
