The more things change, the more they stay the same.

For the second year in a row, Bright and Greta will meet on the turf at WJ Findlay Oval on the last Saturday of the season, with the winner to be crowned senior premiers.

While the names on the scoreboard on grand final day remain the same, it’s been a different year from last season.

Bright welcomed new coach Michael Quirk to the fold, who helped the Mountain Men to a top two finish and a qualifying final win over the Blues a fortnight ago, while Greta has been fending off challenges all season from new foes and old enemies as the benchmark side.

“It’s been a different season than last year, which I think in some respects has been a good thing for us,” Blues coach Chris Dube said.

“We have had to learn some new tricks and beat some different opponents, but I guess it’s a testament to the group doing the work again.

“First and foremost, we got outplayed [in the qualifying final] – the reality is Bright were better than us when it mattered a couple of weeks ago.

“We’ve got some work to do to catch them, but our performance on the weekend was strong, and it looked a bit more of our Greta DNA.

“We’re going to be looking to bottle that and make that this weekend’s theme, but we know we’re coming up against a really quality opposition.”

The Blues boast a versatile and talented group, able to attack and defend with equal efficiency.

The engine room of James McClounan, Jack Kelly and tall Mark Wettern provide burst from stoppage and link up with a truly damaging forward line, with Frazer Judd, Harry Moran and Cody Crawford leading the charge.

Dube said it would come down to a holistic, full-team performance to see them lift the cup for the second year in a row.

“It’s going to take a team effort to get above these guys,” he said.

“You could say it’s going to be won or lost in a particular area, but we’re going to need to stop goals, we’re going to need to win clearances, and we’re going to need to kick some scores.

“At the risk of sounding boring, the team that does that for longer will probably come out victorious.”

This year marks Bright’s third consecutive grand final appearance without a flag to show for it, but Quirk said what’s come before has no bearing on what’s ahead.

“We’ve approached the season as a new season and we won’t be referring back to that at all - come 2pm on Saturday, it’s a new game,” he said.

“It’s been an enjoyable season, there have been a few ups and downs along the way, a couple of losses, but you learn from those losses.”

The Mountain Men have stars across the park, including centurion goal kicker Cooper Thomason, gun midfield bull Rod Arguello, and the composure of Michael Elliott and Kieren Jamieson down back.

But it’s not going to be an easy match.

“They’re the reigning premiers, they finished on top so they’re the best-performing team in the competition, and we look forward to the challenge,” Quirk said of Greta.

“I think we know their strengths, I think they’ve got a few weaknesses, and we hope to work on them throughout the day.

“We respect them, we don’t fear them, and we look forward to the challenge.

The 2025 Ovens and King senior football grand final commences from 2.15pm this Saturday.