Haisman Shield | Tigers and Redbacks renew finals rivalry with spot in decider on the line

A sense of de ja vu descended over all those in yellow and black following the result, as Kyabram legend Paul Newman did the exact same thing to them at the same stage of the season last year.

Fortunately, this time around other results played in Central Park’s favour and it has been gifted another opportunity.

However, it will force it to make the daunting trip to Kyabram to face a Redbacks team that has not lost match since the season opener in November.

But if you ask Tigers coach Tyler Larkin he would not have it any other way, and said his team had a point to prove following last week’s disappointment.

“We are going into this week’s game with the mindset that we deserve to be here, we’ve done the hard work through the year to earn that second chance and luckily we got that,” he said.

“Heading over to Kyabram this week we are going to leave no stone unturned to try and get through to a grand final and the boys are excited for that challenge.

“We’ve had a pretty in-depth chat about what happened last week and analysed it a lot more than our previous few games just to see what we can do differently.

“It is a bit of de ja vu and clearly what we have done over the past two years in finals hasn’t worked, so we need to change a few things and we are feeling confident we can get the job done.”

Kyabram on the other hand rolls into this clash on the back of a stunning run of form.

Since losing the season opener, which ironically was against Central Park-St Brendan’s, the Redbacks did not lose another home and away season match to romp to the minor premiership.

They then continued on a similar path of destruction in last week’s qualifying final, thumping Waaia by 63 runs to cement themselves as premiership favourites.

“We are pretty excited to play off in another semi-final and have the opportunity to reach another grand final,” Kyabram coach Jackson McLay said.

“Both sides have got a fair bit to play for, so I think it will be a great game, we’ve played each other a fair bit over the past couple of seasons, so we both know how the other matches up.

“In finals it comes down to who can play their style of game for the longest and withstand the pressure and I’m confident we have what it takes to do that this weekend.”

A major reason behind Kyabram’s success this season has been the form of talented skipper Kyle Mueller.

The competition’s leading run-scorer this season with a whopping 738 at an average of 123, Mueller showed he was able to perform on the finals stage last week with a scintillating 92 not out against Waaia.

But while Mueller will without doubt have a big part to play in the Redbacks’ hopes of clinching a grand final berth, McLay said his team would not be relying on just him to produce a match-winning total.

“Kyle batted beautifully again (last week), but the message is the same as every week in the fact that we don’t want to leave it all up to Kyle, we don’t expect him to carry us,” he said.

“All of us need to be chipping away at it, especially our top six who if they can bat deep into the innings should put a big score on the board.

“If they do that then we back our bowlers in to defend it.”

Larkin was well aware of the challenge bowling to Mueller will present his team and said his wicket would be key to unlocking a grand final berth.

“He is obviously the backbone of that team, he’s had such a good season and we know there is a lot of weight on his wicket,” he said.

“Not giving too much away, we will certainly have our plans to curtail his influence and hopefully they pay off.

“But if they don’t and he does get going, we just need to be a little more prepared than we were with Michael Eckard last week, at the end of the day he is just another player and we need to treat him accordingly.”

The Tigers will look to ride on the hot-form of star all-rounder Rhiley Lau to curtail Mueller, with his half-century keeping his side in the game last week against Numurkah.

Meanwhile, two arch rivals will go head-to-head in the remaining semi-final.

Katandra is at home, fresh off last weekend’s incredible win over Mooroopna, where it will face an in-form Numurkah.

Those who have good memories will remember the battles of yesteryear between these two Cricket Shepparton heavyweights.

Since their dominance pre-COVID-19 with back-to-back grand final encounters, the Blues and Eagles have struggled to return to the big dance.

Both get an opportunity on Saturday.

The Blues rode the coattails of star all-rounder Michael Eckard last week, with his stunning 126 and 3-33 lifting them to an upset win over Central Park-St Brendan’s.

Skipper Dylan Grandell said his team was set to ride a wave of confidence into this crucial bout.

“It is always good when you win a final, we saw a pretty special performance from Michael (Eckard) last week and that really lifted the rest of the group,” he said.

“But we know Katandra are in a similar boat after its big win, so we are certainly under no illusions.

“It’s going to take a complete performance from the entire 11 to get the job done and I am confident we have shown we are capable of producing that.”

Katandra also takes winning form into this clash after it bested two-time reigning premier Mooroopna by one wicket in an epic qualifying final battle.

Now set to come up against one of its biggest rivals in the Blues, Katandra captain Ben Clurey said his team could not wait for the challenge.

“There is a bit of a rivalry there between the two sides,” Clurey said.

“They have got some quality players in their line-up and we’ll try to take some momentum from last week’s win into this week.

“We know we have got to put in a fair bit of work, especially with the ball to try and restrict ‘Ecky’ (Michael Eckard). They have got a handy opening bowling pairing as well which is another thing for us to think about.”

It has been a harrowing and challenging week off the field for the entire Katandra community following a tragic road incident last weekend.

Clurey said players from both sides would gather for a minute’s silence before the contest on Saturday.

“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Clurey said.

“We’ll be doing a minute’s silence before the game out of respect to the family.”