Mortlake starts the division one showdown a hot favourite after progressing through the season undefeated, including January’s demolition of Bookaar.

But Cats skipper Todd Lamont said his side was in uncharted territory, having won its previous three flags from second or third on the ladder, not first like this year.

Lamont revealed he and his players were so focused on the match they had not talked about the possibility of creating association history.

“We haven’t actually spoken about it (four in a row),” he said.

“I think the key to success is that you need to worry about what you have to do to win and worry about the other stuff after.”

Lamont said his unbeaten side’s record had crept up on the team.

“I don’t think we’ve had a real dominant season,” he said.

“We’ve won all our games but we haven’t been belting sides. I feel our most dominant season was probably two or three years ago and we only dropped one or maybe two games.

“I think the close ones we’ve just found a way to win. We might not have been on top but we found a way to get lower-order runs or good spells of bowling.”

The Cats will take an unchanged line-up into the match from last week’s semi-final win over Terang, despite facing tough selection calls.

Bookaar is also unchanged, confident after an outright win over Cobden in the semi-final.

Skipper Fraser Lucas said losses to Cobden and Mortlake in consecutive matches after Christmas had turned his young side’s season around as it battled from fourth to finish the regular season second.

The one-wicket loss to Cobden had stung his players and while the heavy defeat to Mortlake followed, Lucas said their approach was already changing.

“We took a heap of lessons out of the game,” he said.

“For a young side to get a big belting from those guys taught us a lot.”

While the club has stuck to its one-night-a-week training routine compared with Mortlake’s two, he said Bookaar had raised the standard and intensity at practice.    “Since we played Mortlake to now we’ve definitely grown a lot in confidence and self-belief. We feel we are on the brink of something that might last a year or five years. 

“I reckon losing to Pomborneit in the semi-final last year was one of those games where we controlled it and put ourselves in a position to win and didn’t. We were one or two wickets away from getting in a grand final and that really triggered something in the boys.”

Lucas knows his side is a clear underdog but the bond among the team is strong. 

To say it’s family-like is true in every sense. It features Lucas, his brother Eddie and cousins Jeremy Lucas, Henry and Lachie Green.

Lucas said veteran Simon Baker was instrumental in preparing the team for this weekend’s showdown. Baker has coached all but three at junior level, having invested a lot of time and energy in rebuilding the club.

He said he wanted Bookaar to become like Mortlake.

“What they have done in the last three years, they have built themselves into a powerhouse. They are chasing a fair bit of history, a four-peat and a perfect season. The only pressure on them is whatever pressure they put on themselves. I don’t think we are under any pressure because we haven’t been there before.”

The grand final will be played today and tomorrow at Terang from 12.30pm. In division two, Boorcan faces Port Campbell at Camperdown turf today, while Heytesbury Rebels and Pomborneit clash at Mortlake’s D.C. Farran Oval.