FANS who turn up to watch Sunday's Group 11 reserve grade grand final between cross-town rivals Dubbo Westside and Dubbo Macquarie could be forgiven for thinking they were in a time warp.
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When the teams run on to Caltex Park for the lower grade decider there will be no less than half-a-dozen players who were involved in Group 11's historic night grand final back in 2008.
On that night Dubbo Macquarie defied the odds to beat Dubbo CYMS 14-6, with the Raiders team on that night featuring the likes of David Peachey, Damien Rootes, Chris Daley, Adam McDermott, Peter Boon, Zac Rennick and Hale Gordon.
Fast forward seven years and Boon and Peachey will be wearing Rabbitohs colours, and will be up against a Macquarie unit coached by McDermott that includes Rootes, Daley, Rennick and Gordon.
"We're all getting a bit older now," Rennick joked during the week.
"Myself and Matt Lane were around for our 2012 first grade premiership but then you think back to 2008 and a lot of us are still plugging away from that grand final as well.
"We know 'Peach' and 'Boony' are going to be dangerous when they have the ball but we can't just focus on them two. Sam Coe has had a big year for them and they have a big bench and just keep rolling on forwards who are fresh so they're always coming at you."
After being part of the fabric of Macquarie's first grade side for the best part of a decade, Rennick elected to take a step back in 2015 and play reserve grade.
And the move has paid dividends, with the tough forward scoring 16 tries so far this season and growing one hell of a beard.
But the job will only be complete if the club stalwart, whose wife Amy is due to give birth to their first child in January, can end the year with another premiership.
"Outside of getting married and when the baby is born, I'd say grand final day is probably the biggest day you can have," he said.
"We put together a really good bunch of blokes to play reserve grade this year, and we've had to earn our spot in the grand final by coming from fifth and playing knockout games every week.
"When first grade started getting hit with injuries, it impacted on us because they took our players or guys were having to back up.
"But since we've had everyone back just playing reserve grade our form has picked up again. We hadn't beaten Forbes or Wellington before the finals and we've beaten them both so let's hope that's an omen because we haven't beaten Westside either so far."
