Captain Nick Foster expects depth to prove key as Newcastle chase a third straight NSW Country Championships crown on Sunday.
Newcastle play ACT Southern Districts in the 50-over final at Bowral's Bradman Oval after both sides were unbeaten through the rounds.
Newcastle are the back-to-back NSW Country champions and another win will secure them a hat-trick of titles for a third time after previously achieving the feat between 2004-05 and 2006-07 then again from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Foster, who played his 50th match at the NSW Country Championships in Newcastle's last outing on January 30, was on board for both winning trebles.
"I know, being part of those teams, that it doesn't happen very often," Foster said. "You've got to have a lot of things go your way.
"So, to be in the mix, to get that sort of result is a bit of a credit to the people who have been involved over the past couple of years, particularly [Newcastle coach] Shane Burley, who has been able to steer us through a period of transition.
"Historically, we've had the likes of Simon Moore, Mark Littlewood, Joey Price and others. Now, we've probably got a far younger team and we're still getting the right result, so that's a bit of a credit to Shane."
Newcastle disposed of Central North, North Coast and Central Coast at Tuggerah two weeks ago to book a place in the title decider.
"We had a pretty good weekend on the Central Coast," Foster said, "We were able to get ourselves out of a couple of little tight spots and really show our strength in depth.
"Something that often sets us apart from some of the other zones or teams is the depth that we have, and it was good to see at varying times over that weekend a range of different people stood up and got the job done. That was pleasing.
"We were able to bring in four debutants over the weekend and all played pretty key roles, so it was good to be able to have them seamlessly integrate into the team."
Those debutants were Angus McTaggart (Newcastle City), Jeremy Nunan (Wests), Jack Harding (Hamilton) and Daniel Chillingworth (Charlestown).
In the only change to the Newcastle team headed to Bowral, Australian under-19 all-rounder Aidan Cahill replaces McTaggart, who is unavailable due to COVID-related isolation.
Cahill has just returned from the Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies and has been nominated for this year's Indian Premier League auction.
"We're pretty lucky to be able to bring Aidan in as a straight swap for Angus," Foster said. "He's only played for Newcastle once. He came into a same sort of situation last year when he came in and made his debut in the final off the back of some really strong club form.
"He's a talented cricketer and it's likely the last we'll see of him for a while, which is great for him."
Newcastle team: Nick Foster (captain), Jeff Goninan, Adrian Chad (Stockton), Brad Aldous, Jeremy Nunan, Aaron Wivell (Wests) Daniel Arms, Daniel Chillingworth (Charlestown), Ben Balcomb, Jack Hartigan (Hamilton), Josh Bennett, Nathan Hudson (University), Aiden Cahill (Newcastle City). Coach: Shane Burley.
Meanwhile, Lake Mac Attack will play in the Regional Big Bash T20 finals at the SCG on Monday.
