A look at every contending Haisman Shield club’s last run of games

The pinnacle of local cricket looks set to deliver again, but this isn’t just about what happens on the final day, is it?

There’s a lot of business left to be sorted between now and the cut-throat atmosphere that comes with finals, so it’s time to break it down.

For the purposes of conciseness, only teams with a reasonable mathematical grasp of finals contention at this stage will be discussed at length.

We begin with the ladder-leaders and one of the two undisputed form teams of the competition:

1. Central Park-St Brendan’s (45pts) — average 3.67

Longtime observers of the Haisman Shield would be having flashbacks to the yellow and black dynasty of yesteryear looking at the current Deakin Reserve outfit.

The Tigers started season 2024-25 in a much similar vein to the previous campaign, flying off the back of their highly-touted bowling contingent.

Things have balanced out convincingly on offence when the batters have been called upon to do a job, but this is a frightening run home, to be blunt.

Guaranteed bye points in the penultimate round are a plus, but consecutive trips to Tatura and Numurkah will test the Tigers’ mettle.

There’s no greater clash waiting around the corner than the current top two potential runaways in the final round — a gargantuan main event at home to Kyabram.

For Tyler Larkin’s side, taking more than it gives in the final two months will go a long way to painting a promising picture ahead of finals.

2. Kyabram (45pts) — average 4.67

The reigning premiers will be getting a good look at their surroundings ahead of the run-in to finals.

Scarcely a soul out there has had an answer for the Redbacks’ batting prowess and, with their star man earning a Vic Country call-up, you wouldn’t be wise to bet on their downfall.

That said, while there are statistically tougher draws across the league, the fact Jackson McLay’s men won’t see their home turf until the final round — in a massive clash with Central Park, no less — has to count against them in some sense.

It’s without question a run home to watch, because whether Kyle Mueller is up to his usual business or not, there are no guarantees on the way into knockout cricket for the red and black.

3. Nagambie (39pts) — average 5.5

There’s something poetic about Nagambie’s remaining fixtures.

It seems so entirely fitting that a side sitting third on its way into the new year should play its final four games against the teams in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

Not in that order, of course, but life isn’t always perfect.

Anyway, there’s bound to be a lot of jostling and jockeying beneath the Lakers off the back of a trip to Katandra before meeting Waaia down south.

The potential issue facing Mark Nolan’s outfit is if it should find itself dragged back into the pack by the time it needs to suit up against Numurkah and Tatura across February.

There are too many X-factors across Nagambie’s upcoming foes to call this any kind of safe passage despite the relatively pleasant average ladder position compared to the sides around it.

4. Tatura (36pts) — average 5.25

An early surprise packet in season 2024-25, Tatura can hardly be counted out no matter the situation.

A bowling complement which has sprung to life when needed multiple times already naturally brings the Howley Oval dwellers a measure of newfound confidence.

It’s an up-and-down final four rounds for Daniel Coombs’ men, though, who seek their first ticket to knockout play in more than a decade — and the first step along that path is likely the hardest.

A two-dayer at home to Central Park-St Brendan’s kicking off Saturday is undoubtedly a mountain to climb, with few in possession of a solution to the Tiger question so far.

Should the hosts find a way to prevail, though, we’re talking undoubted premiership credentials from that point forth and Tatura will go into subsequent clashes with Old Students and Mooroopna as a comfortable favourite.

There’ll surely be more than a bit on the line come the final two Saturdays of the regular season, though, with a massive encounter shaping up against Nagambie to be a game half the competition could potentially have to keep an eye on.

5. Numurkah (33pts) — average 4.25

Numurkah has been afforded more time than anyone else to contemplate what lies ahead after receiving the bye for round nine, which ran either side of the holidays.

The unfortunate aspect of it is that staring at this fixture list probably doesn’t do too much to raise the spirits the more time you spend analysing it.

Tim Arnel’s men have nothing short of a nightmarish next three rounds to kick off 2025, faced with the task of overcoming Kyabram, followed by Central Park and Nagambie in a series where the stakes are huge.

While the Blues proved unfortunate victims of the fantastically tight race home last season, it’s going to take some enormous displays to make things any more comfortable this time around after entering the new year with a rather tenuous grasp on finals places.

While Numurkah will fancy its chances to close the regular season out against Old Students on the familiar confines of the showgrounds, all but a miracle would suggest 10 points would go much further than six in that finale.

6. Katandra (33pts) — average 9

This is another good reason you’d be eyeing off a final-round outright in advance if you were Numurkah.

The Eagles have — on paper, of course — a tremendously friendly run-in and, in trailing Numurkah on run rate only plus keeping Waaia out of finals by a set of innings points, it certainly looks rosy.

By no means is Nagambie any kind of sure thing, however, and that’s where the road to finals redemption will begin for Katandra in a tantalising affair across the next two weekends.

Should the blue and gold find its way past the likes of Luke and Mark Nolan, you’re looking at three fixtures which, while presenting as individual banana peels, collectively look like relatively smooth sailing.

There’ll be no time to rest on one’s laurels on the way into finals — after all, we all saw what Shepparton Youth Club United did to Euroa last weekend — but games with Mooroopna and Euroa before meeting the combine in the final round almost couldn’t be a more mathematically encouraging finish for Katandra.

7. Waaia (27pts) — average 7.5

Yet another component in what should be a phenomenal conclusion to home and away cricket for the Haisman Shield.

Far and away the regular season’s pace-setters a year ago, hardly anyone could lay a glove on the high-flying Bombers; you would have been especially brave to assume Mitch Cleeland’s men would be on the outside looking in by the new year.

Much like Katandra, which the northern outfit must gain a set of innings points on between now and season’s end, Nagambie is the only contending side left on Waaia’s fixture list.

Old Students at home will be the first step on what looks a theoretically favourable run-in for a side which may find itself in surprising need of some assistance from elsewhere to stay in the hunt — especially if Nagambie can flex its might on the Bombers in round 11 or an upset is produced the following fortnight at Princess Park.

Nobody would have assumed in pre-season that a final-round showdown between rivals Waaia and Mooroopna could result in neither making the cut, but the onus is on the Bombers to beat who’s in front of them and see whether they can get by with a little help.