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A few short months ago Jason Ryan through his cricket career was over. Now, he's just days away from an incredible 15th RSL Whitney Cup grand final in the past 19 seasons. A great of Dubbo cricket, 43-year-old Ryan missed the bulk of the summer after suffering injuries to both his knees during the off-season. "I tore the meniscus in both my knees," Ryan said. "I thought they were going alright into the first round of the season so I played but then it flared up again so I didn't do anything until well after Christmas. "I'm still having a few issues but I'll manage to get through the weekend." After being forced to sit out after round one, Ryan thought it could have been all over. But after the Christmas break his knees allowed him two matches in second grade and then he was straight back into the top grade. In last weekend's semi-final win over Newtown at a wet No. 1 Oval, Ryan produced a gutsy performance at the top of the order and his 27 from 74 balls helped Colts chase down Newtown's total of 137 with relative ease. That win ensured a fourth success grand final meeting with CYMS and yet another decider appearance for Colts' core group of experienced campaigners. There has only been three grand finals since the start of the 2004/05 season which haven't featured the men in red. Ryan, Brad Cox, Chris Morton and Greg Buckley have been a part of almost all of those while Ben Semmler, Mitch Bower and current captain Marty Jeffrey all have multiple grand final appearances to their names. Tim Howarth, Josh Smith, Nathan Jones, Ben Day and Tim Cox are just some of the many others who have played a huge amount of games alongside Ryan over the years. "They're pretty much like family now," Ryan said. "I've spent between 20 and 30 years with most of them so they're definitely like family. "It will be sad the day we all stop, I imagine. Every game you get to play with them is gold because you don't know when it's all going to end. "It's good fun, that's for sure." Retirement has been spoken about almost every year for the past five seasons, according to Ryan, but each summer the same faces are back again. The group will leave their options open again heading into next summer as the focus for now is all on the weekend and CYMS. The rivalry between Colts and the Cougars has developed into arguably the greatest in the recent history of Dubbo cricket. Colts played South Dubbo in four successive grand finals from 2007/08 but they won each of those deciders. The battles with CYMS have been much more even. Colts has won two of the past three deciders against CYMS while the Cougars were crowned premiers in the COVID-affected 2019/20 season after finishing in top spot ahead of the men in red. "We had a lot of clashes with Newtown in the early days and they knocked us off a couple of times," Ryan said. "We had a bit of a run with Souths as well but this one with CYMS is probably closest to the longest and probably the most competitive and most even. "They're a good young side and they're sort of getting us at the back end of our careers so it is pretty challenging for us." Despite the challenge of taking on a CYMS side which has lost only once this season, the Colts players are all too aware the grand final weekend is a different beast. "You know you're always a chance," Ryan said. "We believe in what we can do and we understand what our strengths are. We believe if play good cricket then we've got what it takes to beat them." The two-day grand final starts at 1pm at No. 1 Oval on Saturday.