Oscar Lyons coming into Lavington v St Patrick's grand final in good touch

The Panthers team is packed with big game experience in contrast to St Patrick's who haven't reached this stage for nine years.

Ryan Brown, Sam Harris and Sam O'Connor were all in the Lavington side which faced the Patties in their 2012/13 grand final meeting but it's the balance of the side which most excites first-year captain Dave Tassell.

"That experience is going to be massive for us; blokes that have been there, blokes who know they don't need to panic," Tassell said.

"But to counter that, I'm excited to see what some of the young boys can do.

"Oscar Lyons, especially, has probably had a pretty lean year by his standards but he's just coming good at the right time and I think he's ready to explode."

Lyons made a patient 31, off 83 balls, last weekend as the Panthers recovered from 4/30 to post a match-winning 161 in the preliminary final against Albury.

That was his highest score in 50-over club cricket this season although Lyons did blast 76 off 41 balls in a T20 against Albury before hitting two half-centuries for Riverina in the Country Colts Championship.

Playing a grand final at home doesn't bring the sort of advantage you would normally expect, given the Panthers have operated mainly on the neighbouring No.2 oval at Lavington Sports Ground, with the main ground used for Big Bash and Sheffield Shield matches.

"It's really exciting for the boys," Tassell said.

"There was definitely a buzz when we got through and we knew we were playing a grand final at our home ground.

"But in terms of the wicket, I'm quite apprehensive about the surface. I have no idea and I don't really want to think about it too much.

GRAND FINAL BUILD-UP:

"It would have been nice to get a couple more games on there throughout the year.

"We had one game up here where nearly 600 runs were scored between Corowa and Tallangatta and the next time, we played here against North Albury a couple of weeks later and were bundled out for 100.

"So no-one really knows and there's been a bit of rain this week so we'll just have to assess on Saturday morning."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: