While it may have been over three decades since Rugby Union has won a Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade grand final, club captain Sam Macpherson is not concerned about the drought.
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There will be no significant changes for the Bulldogs come grand final day this weekend.
“The boys are keen and are happy to make the final. We’re not nervous, it’ll just be business as usual for us Rugby boys,” Macpherson said.
“We don’t think too much [about the game being a grand final]. We’ll just go out like we normally do.
“We’ll turn up before the game for a quick warm up and go out and play our usual way.”
Macpherson is confident he will not have to rely on an individual player, as he believes his team is full of quality players.
“We have plenty of big names, but everyone in top six [batting order] will need to stand up and we’ll need two bowlers to stand up if we’re going to win,” he said.
“We don’t need to rely on one person because our batting is full of depth.”
The Bulldogs had a week off, thanks to their upset win against the Redbacks in the semi-final on March 19.
Macpherson isn’t the biggest fan of the week off but said the team enjoyed a good training session the previous Saturday.
Morse Park 1 will be the venue of the grand final after Bathurst Sportsground remains out of action.
“It’s a good deck to bat on and the bowlers will do a good job to keep the runs down,” Macpherson said.
Nathan Swards and James Tristrum are expected to miss the grand final, but besides that, the Bulldogs will be at full strength.
Macpherson said they have the players to fill in for those absentees.
The Bulldogs captain is aware his team will have a lot of work to do to contain the Redback team, who claimed this season’s minor premiership.
“[Trent] Hemsworth and [Mike] Waldren are great with the bat and ball. They’ve got a lot of grand final experience and they’re the team to beat,” Macpherson said.
“They’ll be hard to beat, with their experience and talent.”
According to Macpherson, the Bulldogs have not done too well in the finals “for a few years”.
But he believes his team has the players coming through to be a competition force in the seasons to come.
Rugby Union will play Bathurst City at Morse Park 1, with the game to start at 1.30pm on both April 1 and 2 for the two-day match.
The Redbacks are coming off a comprehensive 221 run win over third-placed City Colts.
