The culmination of a summer of tennis comes down to one last hit out at Shepparton Lawn tennis courts, when Numurkah takes on its vanquished semi-final opponent Shepparton Lawn The Valley.
While The Valley marginally beat the Warriors twice in the regular season in thrillers - 6-74 to 6-66 and 5-76 to 7-72 - it faltered in its semi-final after star player Luke Dixon subbed out with a calf injury.
The injury will keep Dixon off the court again on Saturday - his first week missing a game of tennis due to injury in his “30-odd years of playing” - but he iterated his omission won’t be an excuse against the four-time reigning champions.
“We’ll need to be better of course,” Dixon said.
“They’re a strong team all the way through, and they’ve been the best side the last four years.
“Yes we had our wins this season over them, but they were always tight, so it’s gonna be a big ask.
“But we’ve obviously had a good year ourselves, we’ve been very consistent and we’ve had everyone available.
“Hopefully we can still repeat that form from earlier in the year on Saturday... we’ve done it before, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.”
As for Numurkah, there’s no hushing the inevitable chatter about what a fifth-straight flag would mean to the town’s sporting legacy, let alone the tennis club itself.
You’d be far stretched to find a sporting club anywhere in the nation that’s won five premierships in a row in its code, whether at local or the elite level, and it’s why Mark Mills’ players that wield the racquet on grand final day will swing with the hunger of a premiership-starved organisation.
“Obviously it’s been talked about a little bit,” Mills said.
“Five in a row doesn’t happen in many sports, you might have to dig deep to find somewhere else that did so.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge and it would be unbelievable to win five.”
Mills said the large semi-final win over The Valley was soured by Dixon’s departure due to injury and rather expects a result similar to the in-season bouts on Saturday.
“There was that injury to Shepp’s club champion in Luke Dixon, we were really looking forward to a big battle and we knew it would be right down to the wire but unfortunately these things happen in sport,” Mills said.
“We’d rather Luke out there, and the win left us with a bit of a hollow feeling I guess.”
So where will it come down to on grand final day?
From all accounts, The Valley will have to defy the odds in the men’s singles, especially given Dixon’s injury, but The Valley’s ladies could be the key to giving Numurkah a run for its money.
“Across the board we will back ourselves in, but our women have been particularly strong all year,” Dixon said.
“We’ve had the luxury on relying on the women a lot, we were a little bit off form on Saturday and doubles wise we could’ve done better too.”
As for Mills, an enjoyable culture built over the years has the Warriors entering with “no pressure”.
“Of course we’ve had commitment from our best players like Jack Bassett and Nick Fenaughty, they’re two very quality players who keep coming back,” Mills said.
“Importantly, we haven’t been favourite in a lot of those grand finals and I think the culture around the club helps us in the big games.
“The culture is fun and our best tennis comes from not adding any pressure on each other.
“Everyone’s gonna give it their all and we know that, and if we lose we just know we were beaten by the better team on the day.”
With players already taking aim with some light-hearted banter on Shepparton News Sport’s social media, it’s evident both sides are eager to get the grand final clash underway to determine who wears the GM1 crown.
“We don’t mind a bit of banter,” Mills said.
“There’s no ill blood, we just can’t wait to crack in.”
The grand final takes place at Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club courts on Saturday at 1:15pm.
