The surprise inclusion of the 71-year-old Dennington Red bowler helped the side to victory in the first semi-final against Terang seven days ago.

Today Davies will again lead for Ian Quigley in the Western District Bowls Association preliminary knockout against City Memorial Red.

While Dennington goes into the match as underdog, Davies is confident his side can challenge for a rare grand final appearance.

"We will definitely give it our best shot, but they are a very good side," he said.

"If we play a tight game we can give them a real shake."

Davies has played the majority of the season in Dennington's division two side.

However, he was more than happy to step into the top section when the vacancy arose.

"I was just lucky to go up," he said.

"We tried something different and it worked well."

Dennington has not featured in a grand final since Davies first joined the club about six years ago.

But Davies said his team was good enough to collect the trophy this season.

"In my first year at Dennington, we made the grand final and I was leading for John Murnane," he said.

"We were the only winning rink that day.

"This season has been pretty good.

"There have been a lot of unavailable players but we seem to have settled down.

"We're definitely in with a chance."

Davies is also one of Dennington's pennant selectors.

He said the pressure of leading was nowhere near as harsh as the pressure of rink selection.

"The pressure has never got to me very much. It's a lot more difficult being the selector," he said.

"It's a thankless job. It's the hardest role in a bowls club."

Graham Taylor and Peter Greenberger will join Quigley and Davies on the green today.

The match will be played at Warrnambool Bowls Club.