Or will the Saints march to glory on their home track?
Good luck picking a winner in the Dunedin metropolitan senior A pennant final tomorrow.
The St Clair Saints host the defending champion Otago Bombers in a grudge match that might be badly affected by rough weather.
For the Saints, motivation is higher than ever after last year, when they stormed through the regular season unbeaten only to lose to the Otago Golf Club’s top team in the final.
St Clair have again qualified top and are coming off a convincing 5-1 win over the Otago B52s in a semifinal.
Rising star Albie Reed has been in cracking form at No 1 with nine wins from nine matches, while fellow youngster Connor Howes — the MVP of the 2025 season — has six wins from seven at No 3.
Jake Bleach is at No 2, and Parker Aluesi and Tony Giles form an experienced combination at the tail.
No4 Cam Botting is the only player in the Saints team who did not play in last year’s final.
The Saints beat the Bombers in the regular season at St Clair, but lost to them at Balmacewen.
“This is our fifth final in a row against them, and we have only been successful in one,” Aluesi said.
“The weather is looking pretty terrible for Sunday, so we know it will be a grind in tough conditions, and against the Bombers, average golf just won’t cut it.”
The Bombers have dominated most of the past decade of this competition, claiming the title in eight of the past 10 seasons.
But they have had to scrap their way to the big dance this year.
“We’re getting a bit older and we’ve had to battle through a lot of this year,” senior hand Duncan Croudis said.
“But we’ve got a lot of experience of finals and rep golf, and we’ve got big-game players.”
Croudis tucks in at No 4 behind an imposing top order of Ryan Rosevear, Ben Patston and Brandon Hodgson.
Luke Murdoch is at No 5 and Hayden Coutts, who replaces Callum Judkins from last year’s champion team, is at No 6.
The Bombers squeezed past the Dunedin Golf Club 3½-2½ in their semifinal at Chisholm Links.
Tomorrow’s final is set to start at 10.15am at St Clair.
