Fresh off one of his toughest coaching calls, Chris Rogers admits he's learnt to give a little as Victoria aims to ice a dominant red-ball season with a Sheffield Shield title.
The former Test opener, who took over as Victorian coach in 2020, agonised over what he descibed as a "50-50" call to omit in-form seamer Mitch Perry from the decider.
Perry's 32 wickets at an average of 21.75 this season got him within one vote of Shield player-of-the-year honours.
But there was no room for Perry in Victorian's stacked XI to face defending champions South Australia at Junction Oval from Thursday.
Instead Sam Elliott (33 wickets at 17.18 this season) will join an attack led by Scott Boland, who along with Fergus O'Neill, captain Will Sutherland and spinner Todd Murphy have helped the Vics to a seven-win season - three more than the Redbacks.
"It was one of the hardest conversations, both players thoroughly deserving ... but you can't fit 12 into 11," Rogers said of the Perry call.
"He took it well and hopefully it inspires him to go onto bigger and better things.
"I spoke to a lot of people and nobody could really give me a compelling case either way. Analysts could provide reasons both ways. In the end it came down to almost a 50-50 (call)."
That conversation may have gone a little differently five years ago, based on Rogers' reflections of his coaching journey.
"I've always had pretty strong opinions; what you learn ... is not all your opinions are right, and, people do it different ways," he said.
"Meeting people more where they're at, rather than demanding them to be where you want them to be."
He said the professionalism of what was a young side wasn't up to standard in 2020.
"And I probably didn't react as well as I could've at times, but now, you know, they're exactly where they need to be," he said.
The defending Shield champions have defied an injury-hit campaign to be undefeated in the four-day competition since late October, having last lost a match in round two against Queensland.
They've won two of their past three matches, with a draw against Victoria in the final round enough to seal a spot in the decider after the Bulls went down to Tasmania.
They will be without fast bowler Brendan Doggett (hamstring), who was player of the match in last year's final after taking 11 wickets.
South Australia captain Nathan McSweeney, who was yet to see the wicket, said he would finalise his XI on Thursday.
"They've got some great bowlers so I would have thought there'd be a little bit more (grass) on it but we'll see what happens, and be ready," he said.
The skipper, who opened for Australia in three Tests against India in 2024, admitted a big score in the final wouldn't hurt his chances of a recall.
"The bigger the occasion, the more opportunity there is to make a score and put your name up there," McSweeney added.
"But for me it's about doing that for South Australia ... we had some great memories last year and hopefully can repeat that."
