EMU Creek will carry the tag as the hunted in the EVCA this season.
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The Emus are the defending champions after beating United by 20 runs in last season's grand final.
And it will be a very similar Emus' side that sets about trying to capture back-to-back flags in another season of all one-day games.
All the premiership players from last season are still at the club, but captain Simon Marwood expects his side to again be somewhat of a revolving door.
Last season the Emus had 24 players roll through their division one side before it was the combination of Marwood, Luke Bennett, Todd Brown, Daniel Chamberlain, Alex Collins, Anthony Collins, Brent Downie, Tyrone Downie, Justin Hancock, Tom McGregor and Torin Petrie that captured the club's sixth flag.
"I think it's the culture of the club that has everyone coming back and playing," Marwood said.
"We played good cricket last season, but if we are looking at ways in which we can improve, we could always make a few more runs.
"We went through a patch last season where we had a bit of a lull with the bat, so a bit more consistency with the batting is something we could work on."
Having said that, the Emus were ranked No.2 with the bat last season.
"If we can get that consistency then we think we'll give ourselves a shot at going back-to-back, which is something we haven't done before," Marwood said.
The Emus boast plenty of gun all-rounders headed by Tyrone Downie (526 runs, 11 wickets last season), Marwood (432, 11), Todd Brown (260, 17), Luke Bennett (243, 21) and Torin Petrie (226, 11).
It's that ability to have so many players who can significantly impact a game with either bat or ball - or both - on any given day that promises to make the Emus one of the leading flag contenders again.
"The biggest thing with us will be having blokes in and out each week, but it's how we've operated the past few years and it has worked reasonably well," Marwood said.
"We're pretty laidback out there... we don't force people to play and if they've got other stuff happening on a Saturday, so be it.
"We find that has made for a really enjoyable environment for everyone."
It's an environment that has seen the Emus finish 3rd, 2nd and 1st and win 30 of 41 games over the past three years after the club was without a division one side in 2017-18.
As for the season of all one-day games for the second year in a row, it's a format that has the tick of approval from the Emus.
"Absolutely. We find it much easier to pick sides with the one-day games. It's harder to get people to commit to two-day cricket and I actually thought the competition was stronger last season with all one-day games," Marwood said.
SEASON FIXTURE:
ROUND 1 - November 13
Bye
............................................
ROUND 2 - November 20
v United (a)
............................................
ROUND 3 - November 27
v West Bendigo (a)
............................................
ROUND 4 - December 4
v California Gully (h)
............................................
ROUND 5 - December 11
v Mandurang (h)
............................................
ROUND 6 - December 18
v Axe Creek (h)
............................................
ROUND 7 - January 8
v Sedgwick (a)
............................................
ROUND 8 - January 15
v Spring Gully (h)
............................................
ROUND 9 - January 22
v Marong (a)
............................................
ROUND 10 - January 29
Bye
............................................
ROUND 11 - February 5
v United (h)
............................................
ROUND 12 - February 12
v West Bendigo (h)
............................................
ROUND 13 - February 19
v Mandurang (a)
............................................
ROUND 14 - February 26
v Axe Creek (a)
............................................
ROUND 15 - March 5
v Sedgwick (h)
............................................
ROUND 16 - March 12
v Spring Gully (a)
LAST SEASON FLASHBACK:
Finished - Premiers
Record - 12-3-3, 1.64%
Batting rank - 2nd
Bowling rank - 2nd
............................................
Leading run-scorers:
526 - Tyrone Downie
432 - Simon Marwood
265 - Alex Collins
260 - Todd Brown
243 - Luke Bennett
226 - Torin Petrie
............................................
Leading wicket-takers:
21 - Tyrone Downie
21 - Luke Bennett
17 - Todd Brown
13 - Daniel Chamberlain
12 - Anthony Collins
11 - Simon Marwood
............................................
Leading MVP points:
1056 - Tyrone Downie
787 - Simon Marwood
675 - Todd Brown
673 - Luke Bennett
516 - Torin Petrie
358 - Daniel Chamberlain
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORDS SINCE 2006:
v Axe Creek
Won: 8 Lost: 3
............................................
v California Gully
Won: 13 Lost: 5
............................................
v Marong
Won: 7 Lost: 5
............................................
v Mandurang
Won: 8 Lost: 7
............................................
v Sedgwick
Won: 6 Lost: 12
............................................
v Spring Gully
Won: 4 Lost: 11
............................................
v United
Won: 9 Lost: 9
............................................
v West Bendigo
Won: 10 Lost: 5
MORE 2021-22 TEAM PREVIEWS:
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