The former Armidale captain was the last player to lead the city into a country playoffs series.

That was the Country Cup finals back in 2005 and he is the only player in this year’s squad for the Country Shield finals in Cowra still involved.

Matt Schaefer and Brad King both played in 2005 but Schaefer will miss the Cowra trip and King is team manager.

 O’Sullivan said he was just happy to be in the team and credits King and skipper Andrew Brownlie for the hard work.

“He (Brownlie) should take a lot of credit,” O’Sullivan said.

“He’s brought  a fresh approach to the side the last couple of years. 

“The credit goes to Kingy as manager and Brownlie as the skipper.”

Armidale’s return to a country finals series comes on the back of some improved results, both for the first XI this year and the Dumaresq Colts in recent seasons.

The addition of the Country Shield has also allowed Armidale to be more competitive.

“The thing that has helped is that we’ve had a good Colts side for a few years,” O’Sullivan said.

“The younger players have been part of some successful rep teams and now they’ve come into the Country Shield level.

“Playing in a lower tier has helped a lot too.

“We used to come up against a red-hot Tamworth side early on.

“We’d give it a red-hot crack but they were just too good.

“Now we’re in this second tier which is where we belong.”

The first XI’s good form this year started with a Shield game against Narrabri early in the summer.

Since then it has also beaten Gunnedah and Singleton in the Shield and also won two War Veterans Cup games to be unbeaten in five matches.

“That first game where we chased down 240 against Narrabri really gave the side a lot of confidence,” O’Sullivan said.

“And that’s what got us a win over Gunnedah in the War Vets.

“Even though we only chased 180 we had the wood on Gunnedah.

“Narrabri has been a bogy side for us.

“We haven’t beaten them in two or three years.”

Now Armidale must beat Nowra tomorrow to qualify for the final against either Manning or Albury Wodonga on Sunday.

The batting lineup has been consistent without anyone scoring huge totals but now is the time for someone to step up.

“It’s a long trip so we have to be well prepared,” O’Sullivan said.

“We need everyone to contribute, which is what has 

happened.

“There hasn’t been any big scores in the Shield but three or four guys have scored 30 or 40.

“One of the top four or five needs to get a big score of 80 or 90 or 100 and then we’ll get a good total to defend.”

There shouldn’t be any excuses for not scoring runs at Cowra.

O’Sullivan is the only player in the Armidale side who has played there before, and that was when he was a junior, but he knows the wickets will be flat and might offer spinners like he, Brownlie and Steve Butler some turn.

“I remember they were hard and fast,” he said.

“These wickets out west, they’re all going to be baked hard.

“They’ll be good for batting and they’ll turn a bit later in the second innings.

“Armidale hasn’t been conducive to that.

“In recent years Armidale has been a fast bowler’s dream but this year it has been drier and there’s been some turn, which is good.

“We’ve got two good spinners, and me.

“There’s Brownlie and Butler and if I get a few overs I’ll do my best and maybe jag a wicket or two.”

The pace attack could be bolstered by the return of Luke Brown.

He joins Henry Cupitt, speedster Karl Triebe and Sam Uphill in the seam stakes.

“We’ve brought Luke Brown into the side,” O’Sullivan said.

“He’s an all-rounder, probably a bowling all-rounder but his batting is still pretty good.

“He got an 80 a couple of weeks ago.

“He’s tall and a left-arm swing bowler.

“It means we’ve got a pace attack with some variation.

“There’s Henry who is a skiddy bowler, Luke Brown who is tall and will get some bounce and swing, Sammy Uphill gets some seam and Triebe, we’ll just let him go downhill.”

The batting lineup is full of experience in the middle, with Brownlie and O’Sullivan batting at four and five, but also features some youngsters in Will and Alex Frost and Michael Dawson.

“The Frost boys will bat in the middle somewhere,” O’Sullivan said.

“Alex has been one of the best juniors to have come through in the past few years.

“The other big thing has been the opening pair of Dean Moore and Michael Dawson.

“Dawso is only young, about 16, but he has a good head on his shoulders.

“And Dean has come back after a year overseas and has taken on a leadership role, which is good.

“They’ve been getting us off to a good start.

“It’s better to be 0-40 than 2-10, which is what usually happened.

“It takes so much pressure off.”

Brad Smith will keep wickets while O’Sullivan said another young player, Hugh Reeves, could be the player to miss out on a starting spot, but will learn a lot from the experience and will be first reserve if someone can’t take their place.