How Creek is on the way to becoming modern era's best side

They say good teams just find a way to win and despite the fact it hasn't always been the best batting side, it's been able to do just that.

There were times in 2021-22 a deep batting order bailed it out of trouble. It suffered upset losses to teams like Nestles.

It hasn't always been perfect.

It's been full of ups and downs but on results and statistics, there's no doubt Creek's current team, which has been captained by Cam Williams and now Matthew Petherick, is one of the greatest.

Andrew Thomson has been a strong coaching presence through that side and has shared the role with Jayaweera Bandara, Darren Loft and Williams.

Dennington, Woodford and Allansford have all had teams which collected three-peats in the past 30 years.

But none of those have managed to drum up four end-of-season premierships in five years. Creek's achievement is rare and there would be people who argue those three teams would knock off the current Russells Creek side, nobody can argue with their winning record.

The last comparable team was Nestles' from the late 1980s and early 1990s. That Factory side - full of players like Ross Corbett, Gary Conboy, Trevor McKenzie, Glenn Kelson and current president Gary MacLean is etched in history as one of the greatest ever.

It won five premierships in six seasons, including a four-peat between 1990-91 and 1993-94, to cement its legacy.

MacLean said player retention made it such a powerhouse.

"I think why it happened a bit was because the majority of the team stuck together," he said.

"Without looking at the actual sides, I'd say probably eight of the 11 didn't change much in a four or five year period to be honest.

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"We lost '89-90, but then we won the next year so probably in that era we'd had success four out of five years. I think West Warrnambool beat us in 1990."

Russells Creek's success has been built on similar foundations. Seven players in its premiership team this past Saturday - Cam Williams, Jimmy Elford, Shashan Silva, Rukshan Weerasinghe, Blake Evans, Joe Kenna and Matt Petherick have featured in four end-of-season premierships.

Shiv Kumara, Josh Campbell and Jeremy Kiensrod have managed two. Tim Ryan has three and Craig Britten has played in one.

The ability to keep a strong core while integrating new players has been a hallmark of the Jetty Flat-based club's success as it was for Nestles all those years ago.

"We were back then like Creek is at the moment. They seem to have those six or seven mainstays and a couple come in and out which I think we probably added different players to our side but the crux of the group was probably there," MacLean said.

"I think that helps to have longevity. People talk about bowling partnerships and things like that. It was myself and Ross Corbett at the start and then Trevor and Peter Herbert through the middle.

"Those types of partnerships were formed so if someone was having an off day, someone else would pick up the slack. It was rare for two or three bowlers to be having an off day."

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Creek's success has been built on good form in all three formats of the game. They've proven themselves a talented one-day team, a good two-day side and capable through Twenty20 cricket.

MacLean's Nestles side of the early 1990s was playing four-day grand finals - effectively a Test match - as was tradition in that era.

So now the only question to be answered is whether Creek can match Factory's record. Is one more up for grabs?

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