OPPORTUNITY presents for Arnold to snap a 20-year premiership drought in the Upper Loddon Cricket Association grand final starting on Saturday.
But standing in the way of the Redbacks and a long-awaited premiership is the same team that denied Arnold last year - Kingower.
For the second year in a row Kingower and Arnold will meet in the ULCA grand final to again be played at Inglewood.
It's a familiar stage for Kingower, which is playing in its 10th grand final in the past 17 years, while the Redbacks haven't tasted flag success since the last of a premiership hat-trick in 1998-99.
READ MORE - How the other six ULCA teams fared this season
Both teams enter the grand final in dynamic batting form - Arnold crunched 6-484 in its semi-final win over Inglewood last week; Kingower made scores of 305 & 236 in its victory over Wedderburn that propelled it into another grand final.
Arnold captain Michael Dale was part of the Redbacks' side that lost last year's grand final to Kingower by 10 runs and is hungry for redemption.
"They are a very strong team, but we're obviously very keen to get one back on them," Dale said this week.
Kingower has both Ryan Metelmann (109) and Matt Giri (190) coming off semi-final centuries.
Metelmann looms as an X-factor for the Redbacks with both bat and ball.
All-rounder Metelmann's past four games have featured scores of 128, 109 and 72, plus 17 wickets.
"Ryan has played with us previously, but it has been great to have him back this season," Dale said.
"He's a quality batsman with a couple of hundreds this year, and with 190 last week Matt Giri is obviously in some good touch as well."
Kingower heads into the grand final having lost just one game for the season - an eight-run defeat to Wedderburn in round three.
The reigning premier's two games against Arnold were wins by 14 runs in round one and 58 in round eight when it bowled the Redbacks out for just 67.
Kingower is again being skippered in the grand final by Braydon Welsh, who is one of three players in the side to have made a century this season.
Welsh began the season with scores of 115 (against Arnold), 120 and 120, while Kingower has also had brothers Ben and David Rose score centuries.
Ben Rose - who earlier this season surpassed 10,000 career runs for Kingower - is coming off 141 last week in the semi-final.
"We're going into the game feeling confident, but not getting ahead of ourselves," Welsh said.
They are a very strong team, but we're obviously very keen to get one back on them
- Michael Dale - Arnold captain
"We bat pretty deep, so we're confident that if at least one of us in the top order get going we'll be able to make a handy total."
The grand final features the top six wicket-takers in the competition - Arnold's Metelmann (32), Cameron Dale (23) and Michael Dale (19) and Kingower's Nick Leach (26), Jayden Leach (20) and Matt Rowe (18).
Play begins at Inglewood at 10.30am Saturday.
THE TEAMS
KINGOWER
Braydon Welsh (C)
Runs: 577 Avr: 52.4
Highest score: 120*
Wkts: 9 Avr: 25.3
Best bowling: 3-25
……………………...
Lachlan DeJong
Runs: 16 Avr: 4.0
Highest score: 7*
Wkts: 17 Avr: 12.7
Best bowling: 4-12
……………………...
James Essex
Runs: 48 Avr: 9.6
Highest score: 28
Wkts: 1 Avr: 27.0
Best bowling: 1-4
……………………...
Josh Essex
Runs: 53 Avr: 8.8
Highest score: 20
……………………...
Jayden Leach
Runs: 235 Avr: 33.5
Highest score: 89
Wkts: 20 Avr: 13.4
Best bowling: 3-11
……………………...
Nick Leach
Runs: 267 Avr: 29.6
Highest score: 55
Wkts: 26 Avr: 9.7
Best bowling: 5-7
……………………...
Ben Rose
Runs: 605 Avr: 75.6
Highest score: 141
Wkts: 7 Avr: 24.1
Best bowling: 3-13
……………………...
David Rose
Runs: 429 Avr: 47.6
Highest score: 125
……………………...
Matt Rowe
Runs: 82 Avr: 11.7
Highest score: 22
Wkts: 18 Avr: 10.8
Best bowling: 5-10
………………………
Kyle Simpson
Runs: 60 Avr: 10.0
Highest score: 19*
Wkts: 10 Avr: 16.5
Best bowling: 3-28
……………………...
Brett Wilson
Runs: 85 Avr: 42.5
Highest score: 57
Wkts: 5 Avr: 8.0
Best bowling: 2-15
……………………...
ARNOLD
Michael Dale (C)
Runs: 96 Avr: 9.6
Highest score: 26*
Wkts: 19 Avr: 17.0
Best bowling: 3-26
……………………...
Cody Anderson
Runs: 155 Avr: 12.9
Highest score: 38*
Wkts: 9 Avr: 21.5
Best bowling: 4-24
……………………...
Cameron Dale
Runs: 388 Avr: 35.2
Highest score: 79
Wkts: 23 Avr: 12.4
Best bowling: 4-22
……………………...
Nick Drew
Runs: 137 Avr: 17.1
Highest score: 71*
Wkts: 2 Avr: 26.0
Best bowling: 2-18
……………………...
Matt Giri
Runs: 342 Avr: 68.4
Highest score: 190
Wkts: 1 Avr: 59.0
Best bowling: 1-26
……………………...
Brian Hill
Runs: 35 Avr: 4.3
Highest score: 11
Wkts: 1 Avr: 15.0
Best bowling: 1-0
……………………...
Daniel Mason
Runs: 63 Avr: 12.6
Highest score: 27
Wkts: 8 Avr: 21.7
Best bowling: 2-25
……………………...
Ben Metelmann
Runs: 50 Avr: 8.3
Highest score: 17
……………………...
Ryan Metelmann
Runs: 602 Avr: 46.3
Highest score: 128
Wkts: 32 Avr: 10.7
Best bowling: 6-20
……………………...
Phil Scholes
Runs: 264 Avr: 18.8
Highest score: 49
……………………...
Brenden Younghusband
Runs: 124 Avr: 13.7
Highest score: 56
Wkts: 11 Avr: 27.9
Best bowling: 3-15
………………………
PATH TO THE GRAND FINAL:
KINGOWER
Round 1: 9-191 def Arnold 9-177
Round 2: 1-199 def Boort-Yando 66
Round 3: 3-204 lt Wedderburn 9-212
Round 4: 3-168 def Newbridge 9-117
Round 5: 2-209 def Serpentine 96
Round 6: 3-178 def Inglewood 5-165
Round 7: 6-181 def Bridgewater 5-112
Round 8: 8-125 def Arnold 67
Round 9: 5-174 def Boort-Yando 114
Round 10: 3-139 def Wedderburn 127
Round 11: drew Newbridge (washed out)
Round 12: 254 def Serpentine 64 & 1-108
Round 13: 238 def Inglewood 60 & 63
Round 14: def Bridgewater (forfeit)
Semi-final: 305 & 236 def Wedderburn 138 & 3-58
………………………
ARNOLD
Round 1: 9-177 lt Kingower 9-191
Round 2: 169 def Bridgewater 102
Round 3: 8-138 lt Inglewood 8-144
Round 4: 8-126 def Boort-Yando 86
Round 5: 160 def Wedderburn 113
Round 6: 9-152 def Newbridge 7-134
Round 7: 6-177 def Serpentine 143
Round 8: 67 lt Kingower 8-125
Round 9: 5-179 def Bridgewater 7-145
Round 10: 2-162 def Inglewood 4-157
Round 11: drew Boort-Yando (washed out)
Round 12: 9-312 def Wedderburn 102 & 8-162
Round 13: 8-239 def Newbridge 124
Round 14: 108 & 6-94 def Serpentine 53
Semi-final: 6-484 def Inglewood 237
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