The Illawarriors have drawn titleholders Central West in Saturday’s semifinal and are highly motivated to claim their first Country crown in 11 years.

Victory over Central West would earn Illawarra a spot in Sunday’s final against the winner of the Newcastle v Central Coast semifinal.

McCreedy guided University to grand final glory in 2014 and is in his first year at the helm of the Warriors.

He has named a 25-man squad and believes variation and versatility on the field will be crucial.

‘‘We’ve selected a squad which will allow us to play a few different styles, depending on the nature of the pitches and the conditions and what the opposition is going to throw at us,’’ he said.

‘‘We’ve got pace and a bit of flair out wide, we’ve got some big boys to be able to handle the grunt up front and they’re also mobile enough to get around the park well. It’s a good mix. We’re very confident in the 25 that we’ve picked and we feel we’ve got a squad that can win it for the first time since 2004.’’

Veteran forwards Gavin Holder and Paul Tuala would love to end Illawarra’s title drought, as would some of the team’s young leaders like Eli Sinoti and Alex Sims.

‘‘There’s a feeling that it might be the last dig at it for a couple of boys, so we’re drawing on their experiences over the last few years,’’ McCreedy said.

‘‘We’ve had a lot of input from the leadership group and buy-in from them in the system that we’ve implemented, so if they’ve got confidence in what we’re doing then the rest of the squad will have that confidence in what we’re doing.

‘Those boys have been through a few campaigns and they know what it’s like to lose the close ones, so it’s a matter of them stepping up and showing the way for the boys to follow.’’

The Illawarriors head to Bowral on Friday morning and will gather in the afternoon for the traditional captain’s run.

Central West will start as favourites on Saturday, despite the loss of key players from last year’s team to Sydney clubs.

‘‘They’re a big physical side and we’ll have to match it with them up front to start with and match their intensity, and hopefully we’ll quiet them down and be able to use our boys out wide,’’ McCreedy said.

‘‘The feeling within the camp has been really good. The players have been really positive and taken to what we’ve implemented. It’s a new coaching staff and new system, but they’ve picked things up really well. Hopefully we’ve got a system that will allow the boys to finally break through.’’