On face value Northern Suburbs and the form team of the competition Thornton should be favourites to advance to the grand final from their weekend semi-finals against City United and Raymond Terrace respectively.

It seems strange to have Raymond Terrace, who were just one win from claiming the minor premiership, as underdogs but they have had the worst run into the play-offs of all four teams.

Since Christmas they have won the T20 final against Thornton, but only two of six first grade fixtures including losses to City United and Northern Suburbs to close out the season.

In those two games they were dismissed for just 71 by Norths and 89 chasing City United’s 9/128.

Thornton in contrast notched up their fourth win in a row in the final round and sixth from their past seven games to take the best form into the finals.

Their only loss was in the round 10 match against Terrace when they lost 8-23 after cruising at 2-160 chasing the Lions 7/213.

However, the week before their loss they defeated the Lions and haven’t put a foot wrong since beating fellow finalists City and Norths in the run home.

Norths skipper Michael Wilson rates Thornton highly and expects them to advance to the grand final, however, given the incredible tight nature of the season he said Norths needed to be at their best to beat City and atone for last season’s grand final loss.

“Thornton are flying and they have got a really happy side, well led by Jake Moore and with good experience throughout the side,” Wilson said.

“They certainly gave us a good beating a couple of weeks ago and I think they’ll be a good match for Raymond Terrace in the semi-finals. In fact I’d be very surprised if they don’t win.”

The Norths team that takes the ground against City in the semi-final will have seven new faces from the one that lost to City in the grand final last year.

The new faces at Norths include Luke Stewart, Cael Smith, Jordan Callinan and teenagers Callum Gabriel, Rex Greaves and Logan Smith.

City also has numerous new faces with Michael Heinrich, Tim Baker and Ricky Dent coming into the side along with teenage all-rounder Jock Vivers.

Sit back and enjoy.