Brown Hill at full strength for Ballarat Cricket Association club firsts final against Naps-Sebas

Brown Hill, and rival Napoleons-Sebastopol, remain unchanged from the semi-final teams that won their ways into this four-day showdown at the Eastern Oval from Saturday.

There had been plenty of outside speculation about the Bulls trio.

Harwood and McMahon have carried the Bulls’ bowling load this season – McMahon, in particular since Christmas when Harwood was sidelined about a month with injury, and Harwood had destructive momentum in last week’s semi-final with a seven-wicket haul that dismantled Wendouree.

Bulls captain Ryan Knowles said the pair was rested from primary training duties this week to ensure they would be ready.

Davies was sidelined for a month with a broken wrist, sustained in play, and made his first start back in the semi-finals.

The Bulls playing-coach told The Courier that, while he did not make a massive impact in the semi-final, his wrist was fine.

Davies will be up against his former team, a side he coached to two BCA club firsts finals and to the semi-finals last season.

In a grand final preview at this week’s EJ Cleary Medal night, Davies quipped that he expected to be a popular figure with Naps-Sebas fans at Eastern Oval – but he was pleased his old team was playing so well.

Naps-Sebas may not have the same big-name players as Brown Hill but can boast the newly honoured EJ Cleary medallist Liam Rigby, who was back to work in training at Napoleons on Thursday night.

There was an excited buzz about training in the wake of Rigby’s win but Naps’ captain Carmen Mapatuna said Rigby was not the kind of player that would get carried away.

Naps’ focus was on finals preparations and Rigby was, as always, a key part of setting the tone at training. Rigby is a dual premiership player with Buninyong in BCA’s division one and this will be his first grand final with Naps.

Matt Ringin has headlined Naps’ pace attack this season, pulling in his season-best haul of 7-43 but it was younger brother Justin Ringin, who starred for Naps with the ball in the semi-final.

Justin Ringin, a spinner, captured six wickets - his captain chipped out the other four - to tear apart Golden Point to reach the semi-final.

There is such an unknown element to how Napoleons-Sebastopol and Brown Hill might line up against each other.

Teams have met just once this season. That was back in round one when a different-look Naps-Sebas beat a starkly different Brown Hill by four wickets at Napoleons.

There is only one way to find out how Naps-Sebas and Brown Hill match up now.