Mick Bevan played for the Greens before moving to the Phantoms over a career stretching across the 1990s and 2000s.

Proudly continuing the family legacy, the younger Bevan is now on the cusp of leading his side to their first premiership since 1991, a year before he was born, with Leeton to battle Waratahs in the Southern Inland grand final on Saturday.

“I watched dad’s games as soon as I was old enough to know what was going on,” he said.

“From there I started playing, along with a few guys around my age.

“We joined the juniors and climbed the ranks together.”

Adding extra emotion to Saturday’s final will be its location, with the clash scheduled for Leeton No. 1 Oval, and Bevan said he was well aware of the weight of the occasion.

“It would mean a great deal to win it,” he said.

“It’d be my first premiership, but more importantly, it’d be a big deal for the club itself and a few of the older boys who have been around for a long time.”

The young leader said that while rugby was not traditionally at the forefront of people’s minds in Leeton, that mentality had been changing following the undefeated side’s stunning success this season.

“There has definitely been more talk around town about the team, especially over the last two years when we started winning a lot of games,” Bevan said.

“Everyone’s getting around us now and I think the town has been a bit shocked by some of the scores.

“They’re used to seeing it the other way around.”

The club has come a long way since Bevan cracked the first-grade side in 2010.

“The first three or four years I was there, it was pretty tough,” he said.

“We were struggling just to get the numbers.

“But seasons like this one make it all worth it. 

“After busting your hump for so long, having it turn around like this after all of that just makes it even sweeter.”