Albion captain James Mack has hailed the late-season return from injury of his brother, Andy, and his impact on the side's quest to regain the premiership.
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Andy will take the field when Albion search for an outright win over Court House at Wolseley Oval on Saturday that would secure them the minor premiership and an automatic grand final berth.
It is only his third match of the season (the first came against Mornington two rounds ago). It had been expected he would miss the whole season after he tore his ACL late in the AFL season while playing for the Bulldogs.
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James Mack said his brother was on the waiting list to have surgery at Tamworth Hospital.
Since Andy's return, he has scored 125 runs in four innings at an average of 41.7. The allrounder has not bowled.
James said that if Albion had known the knee would hold up so well, “we probably would’ve got him in a bit earlier”.
“He filled in when we were short of numbers against Mornington, and he sort of felt good,” the skipper said.
“So we felt we may as well keep him in there while he’s going all right.
“He’s definitely a bonus for our batting order. He's not at the top like he normally is, but he’s a pretty handy four or five.”
On day one, Albion took advantage of an understrength Court House to put themselves in a strong position to claim the outright win.
Sent into bat, Court House were dismissed for 67 in the 44th over. Luke Ryan was the chief destroyer, with 6-18 off 15 overs.
James Mack then made an aggressive declaration when Albion reached 2-128 in the 28th over.
In their second innings, Court House finished the day 1-13 off 14 overs.
At Kitchener Park on Saturday, in the clash to decide who finishes the regular season in third place, Mornington will resume on 3-104 after dismissing Kookaburras for 114 on day one.
"We're right where we want to be," Mornington captain Sam Lumby said.
