Kyabram comes into the Haisman Shield grand final a rightful favourite after finishing as the minor premier, losing just once and gunning for only its second ever Haisman Shield.

The key ingredient?

“Consistency” claims its ice-cool captain Kyle Mueller, who was pleased to be back in the big dance at Katandra Reserve this weekend after bowing out at the preliminary final stage last year.

“[The grand final] is a good opportunity for us,” Mueller said.

“It’s nice that we get back to have another crack at it because over the last three to five years our form has been pretty consistent.

“Everyone’s playing their role, and [we’re] probably just in an age bracket now where we’ve matured more as cricketers, being comfortable with where we’re at as a team.”

It’s a hard fact to argue; the club has played in the past eight finals series and only two years ago was the Haisman Shield premier.

While its bowling and batting has been lethal in equal measure, Mueller knows what it takes to lift the time-honoured Shield, and that’s getting the game deep into Sunday.

And in terms of matchups, he’s taking every ball as it comes.

“It’s really just time at the crease, time with the ball, and just staying composed and taking your chances,” he said.

Mueller himself is eyeing a second flag as captain to continue to buff out a sporting resume’ that is the envy of many, and with more than 600 runs to his name this Haisman Shield season his wicket will be a prized one again.

“It's been nice after Christmas to get some two day cricket in and get some longer stints of the crease, and that's what we'll be hoping to do on the weekend as well,” he said.

The first ball of the grand final will be at 11am at Katandra Reserve this Saturday and Sunday – can the mercurial left-hander play a key part once more?

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Tuesday, 22nd May 2029

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