After a thrilling one-wicket loss to the Cats in the major semi the Blues fought their way out of trouble not once, but twice in last week's eight-run preliminary final victory over Saint Michaels.

Struggling at 2-9 batting first, Ambler (98) and skipper Joel Robinson (78) put together a 149-run partnership to guide the Blues to 8-251.

However with Tom Byrnes (143) and Beck Frostick (44) in full control, Saint Michaels looked primed for an upset at 2-158 but Ambler said they never lost faith they could get out of another jam.

"We still thought we were in it. We kept saying cricket's a funny game, and you never know that one wicket or a screamer of a catch could change everything," Ambler said.

"In our innings it felt pretty good to get a big score. (After our openers were dismissed cheaply) Joel and myself had to really dig in, fight out the hard times and it was really good to see that we could do that.

"They did throw the kitchen sink at us and it was a really good contest, I really enjoyed it out there.

"It was good to come out the end end and get our team out of the shit."

Wagga City qualified for the grand final in nerve wracking circumstances, with four leg byes with one wicket remaining allowing them to edge South Wagga in the major semi.

Ambler said the batting group failed to get the job done by making just 180 batting first, and says keeping wickets in hand will be key at McPherson Oval.

"We obviously didn't bat very well (in the major semi), but last week we came out and were much better other than the early top order wickets," he said.

"The key to this weekend is finding runs. One or two of our top five need to make a big score and that just sets up blokes like Luke Gerhard, Mitchell Sykes and Nathan Cooke to come in with 10-15 overs to go and get our score from 250 to 350. That extra ten over really counts.

"It would be good to get another score personally, but I'm not really fazed if it's me or not, as long as someone gets a score."

Ambler is confident experienced keeper batsman Jeremy Rowe is primed to repeat his grand final heroics of last year.

After nursing football injuries in second grade, opener Rowe has made 15 and six since his return to first grade for finals.

"Last year in the grand final he pretty much won the game for us, because he set the game up. He made it so much easier for our middle order to chase those runs down," Ambler said.

"He got injured in footy last year and he's just taken his time. He's been doing a fair bit of work the old man.

"He's fighting fit right now, he's one of the better keeper sin the comp and if he gets himself in at the top order he can really hurt teams."

The grand final will be played at McPherson Oval this Saturday and Sunday from 1pm.