JAKE May wasn't even born the last time North Wagga won a Farrer League first grade flag.
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But the Saints midfielder said he will generate motivation from the "old boys" still yearning for a first premiership since 1994 before Saturday's decider against East Wagga-Kooringal at Robertson Oval.
The 22-year-old said the presence of past players around the club was a constant reminder of the opportunity to create history that lies in front of them.
He said the key is to use it as a spur, but not to let it stifle them or become a burden as they look to reverse a 15-point semi loss to the Hawks in week two of finals.
"We don't have too much grand final experience. There's a couple of boys who played footy at Ganmain (Grong-Grong Matong) when they won their premierships, but besides that we're a team of locals and we haven't seen success in a long time," May said.
"We're going to use that as motivation as much as we can.
"A lot of the old boys are still at the club, at training runs watching and turning up to every game.
"The fact they're still around and still as keen as we are, we can take a lot out of that.
"I know myself and a few others will at some stage this week have a chat to one or two of them to get some motivation and feedback."
May has been with the Saints "since Auskick", and boasts the unusual accolade of having three under-17 premierships to his name.
"I played up (in under-17s) when I was in under-15s, then had a full year of 17s and dropped back there when I was playing first grade (from 16)," he said.
"I enjoyed junior footy but it's a noticeable step up coming into first grade, where it's time to take footy seriously."
The Saints beat Marrar by 32-points in Sunday's preliminary final, a rematch of last year's grand final, to earn another crack at the Hawks.
The finals loss to the Hawks was May's 100th first grade game.
"There's a lot of (looking for) redemption there but in saying that it's in the past, there's no need to focus on that," May said.
"It (last year's grand final loss) is always in the back of your mind and if you use it as motivation, and motivation only, it's OK, but we have to keep focused on the task and enjoy it.
"We just want to keep it simple, keep the vibe up and go into Saturday confident and backing each other."
May said the Hawks loss gave them a chance to analyse what they need to improve before they play for all the marbles on Saturday.
"It (loss) might be a blessing in disguise," he said.
"They outclassed us on the day but we took a lot out of it. If we fine tune a few things I think we'll be in pretty good stead for the weekend, but East Wagga are pretty classy."
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