Tom Groth's decision to jettison Tamworth rep cricket in favour of leading Gwydir in the Connolly Cup has given the celebrated veteran exactly what he desired.
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Ahead of Gwydir's historic home Connolly Cup final against Moree on Sunday, when the hosts will attempt to win the title for the first time, the veteran skipper has described the commitment of his teammates as "outstanding".
When the Bingara born-and-bred country cricket icon left Tamworth representative cricket following the 2017-18 season, the most capped Bush Blue in history touched on his frustration over players not making themselves available to play rep cricket.
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He has found the opposite at Gwydir, who play on a synthetic wicket.
"Just having the same group of players available every week ...," he said. "You know, they all put their hand up, and they go out of their way to make themselves available, which I think is outstanding.
"The commitment that I've seen this year from the Gwydir guys: it doesn't happen in Sunday rep cricket these days."
That commitment has resulted in Gwydir taking an unbeaten run into the final, including a last-start defeat of Tamworth that the gloveman described as a "David versus Goliath" battle and a "huge" win.
Groth has overseen a reversal of fortunes this season, after Gwydir failed to win a match the previous season.
With the semi-finals washed out last weekend, Gwydir and Moree advanced to the finale after topping the Eastern and Western conferences, respectively.
Groth said Gwydir winning on Sunday "would mean a heap to us". Doing so would be "great" for Bingara, Barraba and Warialda, he said.
"We're excited," Groth said. "We've had a great season.
"We're just gonna treat it like a normal game. But yeah, we're happy with the way we've gone. We've really enjoyed our season, and we're really looking forward to Sunday. I think a win would cap off a very enjoyable season."
Groth said Gwydir's side consisted of players from from Barraba, Upper Horton, Bingara and Warialda.
Having players drawn from several towns made the team's lilt for history even more special, he said.
"I think that's been a good thing, too, just bringing guys together from different towns and making it work," he said.
"I think that's probably been the biggest success throughout the whole campaign, really, just getting the guys together and playing consistently.
"The same guys have played week in, week out. Yeah, it's really good."
Groth said Gwydir approached their cricket hoping to have "a bit of fun", before quickly adding: "We really wanna play, and we really wanna win."
