The man who took Tigers to the 2016 Riverina League premiership was working and studying in Melbourne right up until Victoria went into its first state lockdown.

"The announcements were made at 3.30pm that they were going to shut the border for six weeks minimum. I had to go to work and over a couple of hours I convinced myself that getting across was better than staying in lockdown," Campbell said.

"I wasn't sure if it was going to come off...I thought if I get across the border, at least I've got some freedom, even if footy wasn't going to go ahead.

"I quickly went home, packed up whatever I could see, threw it in the back of my ute and I crossed the border at about 11 o'clock that night.

"It felt like something out of a movie, or wartime or something. There were coppers everywhere and as soon as I got across, I was so relieved."

Campbell headed to his parents' place in Canberra. After two weeks of quarantine, he's been travelling across to Wagga most Thursdays and is now primed for another grand final against Leeton-Whitton.

"I did always want to come back one day and play and it's just worked out in my favour this time," he said.

"And how a few other boys have been able to come back, being able to play with a few of those boys from 2016, it's been a lot of fun even in a short format.

"I've got a lot of respect for the football club and those boys so being back and getting around them and enjoying my time again has been a big win."

Tigers' only loss was in round one, when Campbell and returning juniors Jake Gaynor and Sam Lucas were ruled out under a 'player screening process' designed to keep the pandemic away.

The team hasn't lost since although there was only a point in it when they overcame Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong in round two; they kicked 3.17 against Turvey Park in the wet a month ago; and they scraped into the grand final with a thrilling three-point win against Leeton-Whitton.

Campbell believes they've got a well-rounded side and has enjoyed playing alongside Ovens and Murray League pair Brayden O'Hara and James Grills as well as his former Tigers teammates.

"And the standard of footy has been really good as well, across the board," he said.

"Osborne surprised me and the quality getting about in Leeton and Ganmain - Cooper Sharman and Nick Murray are going to be real superstars."

Sharman headlines the talent in a dangerous Crows outfit.

"I don't think there's any one danger. They're a quality outfit across their whole side, much like we are," Campbell said.

"It'll be a good battle. I think whoever gets on top in the middle will give themselves a good shot at it.

"They're pretty well-drilled, they move the footy well and they're very disciplined."

He said the 2016 grand final has been on in his mind only since the narrow semi-final win against the Crows, a game that was reminiscent of the grand final in which Leeton-Whitton almost snatched victory late in horrendous conditions at Robertson Oval.

"That's still the wettest game I've played, ever," he said, of Tigers' 10^th Riverina League premiership.

That four-point win against the Crows also ended a nine-year drought, the club's longest lean spell since the 1950s.

"It was super important to the club. We were tracking along pretty well and there was a fair bit of pressure around and placed on us," he said.

"So, to be successful... we had to get there which we only just did in the end. They were coming and they were still coming and we were lucky the siren went when it did, to be honest."

This year, the teams will play for a new AFL Riverina Championship trophy donated by Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack.

The best-on-ground medal is named in honour of Norman Francis McLennan, a foundation Turvey Park footballer and triple premiership player through the 1950s and '60s.

He kicked five goals in a best-on-ground effort in the 1961 South West League grand final when Turvey defeated Leeton by 40 points in a big upset in front of a crowd of around 10,000.