After hitting what he described as rock bottom in December, the Magpies looked like missing the semi-finals altogether. 

Instead, a frank chat amongst the squad triggered a return to form that propelled the team into the top four and, after a bit of luck last Saturday, to this weekend's grand final. 

Now they're here, the Balgownie captain said his team will do everything they possibly can to secure their fourth premiership in five years. 

"We were at rock bottom midway through the season," Batty said. "We didn't have player availability, no one was playing their best cricket. 

"After the Twenty20 forfeit during the season, we had some difficult discussions within the club. I asked the boys what they wanted to get out of the season and said we had to turn it around. Since that talk, the boys have delivered at every level with commitment and performance. 

"Now that we're here, we'll be going in all guns blazing. If the weather doesn't play a factor and we play our best cricket, I'm confident we can go back-to-back."

The masters of building pressure in the field, through words and actions, Balgownie have vowed to ensure this weekend's grand final opponents, Keira, are unable to get comfortable. 

"The pressure is all on them to back up a successful season. They've been quite a successful club over the past 10 years, but only won one premiership. 

"We'll be applying pressure, we've got some wily characters in our team. It will be pretty vocal in the first hour from both teams. It's one of those games where we see who handles pressure the best."

Keira captain Kyle Connor brushed off Batty's comments and said his team is prepared for everything the Magpies throw at them. 

Connor said, instead, the Lions will focus on purely what they can do. And that will be replicating the form throughout the past few months that has seen them unbeaten since November.

"We are just going to be focused on our gameplan and not worry too much on everything outside that," Connor said.

"The last three months we have been building nicely. If we bowl like we did last week, we'll create enough chances to bowl them out. Nick and Neel have been great for us, if they bowl well and build pressure, we just need to make sure we take the chances when they come."

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Balgownie's resurgence has been led by bowlers Jason Bunyan and Jamie Fleming, the pair taking a combined 33 wickets throughout the past four games. 

Connor is well aware of the threat the pair pose, but he's confident his in-form batsmen will be up to the task.

"They're the key wicket takers, Jason's good with the new ball, he puts it in great areas, and Flem's really consistent. They hit good areas and like to build pressure.

"We're aware they're the key bowlers, but I'm confident we'll put pressure back on them and we'll put a decent total on the board."

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