Yesterday he ticked the first box by completing his final exam, and today he hopes to take a big step towards the other as Souths meet Bective in the preliminary final.

The captain said the loss to Old Boys in the semi final last week stirred the boys up.

“There was a lot of feeling coming out in the shed after that game,” Leyden said.

“We were disappointed with ourselves and fired up to get another shot.”

Batting has been letting the side down lately as they have been struggling to breach the 100 run mark.

That is going to have to change if they want to beat Bective, whose strength is batting.

“I think (Adam) Jonesy is the equal of any batsman in Tamworth,” Leyden said.

“He hasn’t shown too much of it this year but he is just as likely to peel off a ton on Saturday.”

The captain has flagged the wickets of Jones and Callum Rowe as crucial.

“We have a plan for each of the top four wickets and have the attack to carry it out”,” Leyden said.

“Col (Smyth) loves big games and could be the man to do it.”

Smyth bowls tight lines and doesn’t offer much width.

“Those batsmen love a bit of width so we need to restrict that and pile the pressure on from both ends,” Leyden said.

Souths bowling has shone all year and is the least of the captain’s concerns.

Where they have fallen down at the end of the season is in the top order.

“We have talked about the top five having to score the lion’s share of runs this week.”

“Now we just have to stand up and execute it.”

Leyden is still hurting from last week’s loss, but also thinks that pain can help them win this week.

“We were so disappointed after last week and felt what being out of the finals would feel like.” 

“I would be very surprised if we don’t bounce back from that.”

“We would love to get another crack at Old Boys.”