He had only scored 25 Whitney Cup runs this season, but on Friday night Mat Skinner snagged a Twenty20 half-century to go with his latest piece of silverware.
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The Amaroo Hotel Tigers captain opened the batting in Friday night's McDonalds Megahit final, smashing half a dozen boundaries at Victoria Park No 1 Oval on his side's path to victory.
"I just had to back myself to finally get some out of the guts, and I did," he said post-game.
The Tigers prevailed over the Bob Berry Blasters, Ben Patterson slogging a boundary to wrap up the proceedings - and his half century - in the 17th over.
"That's sort of what we're looking for from him in the big games," Skinner said of 'Patto'.
"I was batting with him there for a while and he showed a lot of maturity, sort of didn't want to throw it away and wanted to stick in there so it was really good from him."
Skinner was also full of praise for medium pace quicks Jesse Spang and Lee Price who "did their tough overs through the middle and executed really well".
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The Blasters started slowly, losing Wes Giddings (5) and Marty Jeffrey (0) cheaply before all-rounder Tom Atlee stepped up with the bat.
The 17-year-old had been tipped as a key figure for his side and did not disappoint, slogging 66 from just 44 balls and partnering well with Jason Ryan (12) to get the Blasters innings back on track.
"Tommy Atlee and JR batted well through that middle part and sort of got them to a defendable total," Skinner said.
"But credit to our boys who sort of stuck with it and didn't give in."
Atlee, Ryan and, earlier, opener Tim Howarth were the only Blasters to reach double figures.
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Patterson was the key destroyer, claiming 1-32 but also helping to dismiss four others, including Chris Morton (2) with a spectacular direct run out, hitting the stumps side-on whilst mid-dive.
The Blasters managed just 127, a total Jeffrey always knew wasn't enough.
"I feel we fell about 20 runs short with the bat, which hurts," the Blasters' young skipper said.
"I think scoreboard pressure probably gave us a couple extra and helped us keep ourselves in the fight until pretty late, but with the class batting they've got, 127's probably not enough, we're probably looking at 140, 150.
"Just poor shot selection and as an overall batting unit just couldn't find partnerships."
In response, Patterson managed 51 and 25-run partnerships with Mat and Steve Skinner respectively, knocking balls not only out of the park, but onto roofs and over buildings.
Jeffrey had high praise for Patterson, his National Indigenous Cricket Championships teammate.
"Everyone's known he's always had the talent and I think just the way he's matured and started to play smarter, he's a very hard player to bowl to and as he gets smarter he just gets harder and harder," he said.
"I think a lot of our guys can learn a lot from him."
The RSL Colts club uses the Megahit competition to "blood" young players, with Tom Atlee joined by younger brother Ant, 14, in the field.
Jeffrey drew a great deal of pride from leading the still-growing side to a final.
"Our young guys have done really well this year when they've had their chances and I think for a team that's been fairly regularly changed throughout the season, we've done really well," he said.
"It's great to watch the young guys come through and also the older guys … I'm still learning off them and then trying to offload my experiences onto the younger ones.
"I really enjoyed leading the whole season and hopefully look to some more leadership roles next year."
