Unfortunately that won’t happen, the Dean brothers have both withdrawn from the gun Aces side.

Jono and Blake will miss this weekend’s carnival, the former is nursing a shoulder injury while the latter’s wife is expected to give birth any day now.

Delaney will still be on hand though as coach of the Aces side, which enters this weekend on the back of a dominant, nine-wicket win over South Coast.

“It is unfortunate Jono and Blake won’t be able to come back and play close to home, it would have been exciting but obviously they have very good reasons for not playing,” Delaney said.

Although the duo – who have Big Bash League experience with the Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder, respectively – leaves a massive hole in ACT’s side, the Aces’ mentor is certain the side has enough firepower to cover the loss.

“They’re classy players, there’s no doubt about that, but we do have a lot of depth so it’ll be up to a couple of others guys to step up,” Delaney said, highlighting skipper Matt Condon and NSW Country all-rounder Ben Mitchell as two he’ll look to.

Condon, a former Sydney Sixers Academy member, led the Aces to that emphatic win over South Coast with 40 not out at the top, while Mitchell is coming off a bumper McDonald’s Country Championship Southern Pool campaign, with Southern.

He scored 139 runs in three digs, at 139, with a top score 73 not out against Riverina.

“Matty’s class with the bat and has proven that, he’s had a run in the Prime Minister’s XI in the past, and Benny did well at the country championship and has experience with NSW Country,” Delaney said.

“So they’re certainly two we’ll be looking to to lead us around, I’m confident they will.”

The Aces won’t be a two-man team though, Delaney says, far from it.

He’s made sure the squad is primed for an all-out assault on this competition, and has been in every other tournament for that matter.

“We’re not coming to just be competitive, or to make up the numbers, we’re coming to win,” Delaney said.

“We want to win every competition we play in and this one is a big focus for us because we think we have a squad capable of winning it.

“We’re definitely coming to spoil the other sides’ party.”

The Aces may well have an early leg-up in the battle for a finals berth – the winners of all four pools progress to the finals at the SCG on December 10.

While it does remain unclear what the protocol is should all five games get washed out over the weekend, with very little time to replay any it’s thought they would be considered draws.

In that case, the Aces will progress by default, thanks to the win points they earned against the South Coast.

“I’m not sure what happens there, but the last thing we want is to miss out on cricket because of rain,” Delaney said.

“We’ll take it as it comes, but we definitely want to be playing, just like the other sides.”

ACT’s first game is against reigning champions Orana at Riawena Oval on Sunday, from 9.30am, before its second against Central West at Wade Park that afternoon.