Saturday's elimination final between Court House and Kookaburras at Wolseley Oval is essentially a grand final, Kookas veteran Cameron Milne has said, with the winner going on to defeat minor premiers Albion in the finale.
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Albion have lost three-straight grand finals, and Milne is convinced that that unenviable record will be extended this season.
"To me, this week's the grand final," he said. "Whoever wins this, wins the grand final. That's my honest appraisal of the game."
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Milne said that Albion's poor record in grand finals extended beyond the past few seasons and encompassed the past decade (the accuracy of that claim cannot be verified because the MyCricket records for that period are incomplete.)
"Now, sooner or later that does start playing on your mind," he said.
"I've played cricket with a couple of blokes that have never won a grand final. They've played in 14 grand finals for no victories.
"Now, that could be a state of mind, I'm not sure, or either they're just unlucky."
Kookaburras upset Albion to capture last season's premiership, while Court House won their second consecutive grand final battle against Albion the season prior to that.
As with last season's finale, Milne said Kookaburras would go into Saturday's clash the big underdog.
"Court House are the favourites by a mile," he said. "They've got their full side, they [Court House] tell me ... and we're gonna be, probably, a couple short."
He added: "It will be a fair dinkum contest on Saturday. Court House were knocked out [of the finals] by us last year.
"So, they'd be looking to change that, and we're looking to go back-to-back [with premierships].
"It would be a very interesting grand final between Court House and Kookas."
Kookaburras limped into Saturday's final, having lost their past four matches.
Their highest score during that period was the 85 they posted in losing to Albion in the last round.
Milne - second on the batting standings this season with 336 runs at an average of 42 - said both Kookaburras and Court House's form this season had been "a bit scratchy".
And since Kookaburras' paltry total of 12 against Albion three losses back, he said Kookas had improved each round - culminating in the 85 runs last Saturday, and the definition of a glass-half-full mindset.
Milne said Court House would present no surprises on Saturday.
"You know what you're gonna get with them ... they don't rely on one individual: they rely on a group to perform," he said.
