Here’s one: while NSW players tend to graduate from the Sheffield Shield, Victoria’s tend to win it.

On this, both outfits have delivered. Since 2008-09, Victoria have won six shield titles to New South Wales’ one, winning every final they’ve contested. Loading However during this time, only 15 players from Victoria were picked to play Test cricket, whereas 17 were picked from New South Wales. In the ten years prior, one player was selected from Victoria, while seven were at New South Wales when their baggy greens arrived. Chris Tremain is familiar with life on both sides of the Murray. Born in Dubbo, then debuting with the Blues before switching to Victoria, he finished last year as the competition’s leading wicket-taker and Victoria’s Shield Player of the Year. He’s observed markedly different approaches to cricket in both states.

‘‘At New South Wales, technique, looking the part and presenting a very good image for yourself and the state was very important," Tremain told the Herald. ‘‘But it was branded on me very early in Victoria that ‘we don’t care how good you look. If you’re not playing for the team, you’re not playing’.’’ There was a bit of friction in the rooms when I left New South Wales,’’ he said. ‘‘I remember a senior player telling us that, ‘If you’re going to carry on like a f---wit, go and play in the NRL.’ I didn’t feel he lived that value.

‘‘There was always a lot of talk about blokes who’d done well in a losing side, too. Sustained success: Since 2008-09, Victoria have won six shield titles to New South Wales’ one. Credit:Vince Caligiuri ‘‘We don’t do that here [at Victoria]. There’s little to no recognition of individual achievements. If someone gets a 100 or a five-for, ‘Ronnie’ (Victoria’s current coach Andrew McDonald) will read it out after the game, say ‘cheers’ and move on. ‘‘It was even said to me last year – after I took 50 wickets in the season – that ‘it would never, ever have happened had I not been playing with ‘Sidds’ and Boland.’’

There are stories of spectacular end-of-season presentations at NSW, where ‘‘about 30 awards’’ are given. In contrast, the Victorian Men’s side hands out just three, where the most coveted is the John Scholes Award for Best Team Player. Loading ‘‘No one really cares who does well as long as we all do well,’’ Tremain says. The team. The effort. The role player. The guy who "does your running". This is Aussie Rules talk. Asked about the volume of AFL conversation among his Victorian teammates, Tremain offers: ‘‘It is so much. I can’t put a number or measurement on it, but there’s so much.’’ It’s hard to escape the AFL in Melbourne. Even during its off-season, many of its disciples will explain cricket phenomena through the prism of the winter code.

On Twitter this Summer, Will Pucovski’s prospects were equated to ‘‘the hope invested in a No.1 draft pick in the AFL’’; Glenn Maxwell’s position at seven in the ODI side was akin to ‘‘the day Brendan Fevola played full-back on Fraser Gehrig’’; and Matt Wade was referred to as (AFL player) ‘‘Jeremy Howe’s cousin’’. This small sample came from professional journalists. Greg Shipperd, a man regularly cited as a chief architect of Victorian cricket success, coached the state to four Shield titles and a host of short-form trophies. He agrees that Aussie Rules has influenced the way Victorians play the game. ‘‘In Victorian cricket,’’ he says, ‘‘We do look at the environments around us. In my early days of involvement, we did interact with Collingwood and we did listen to the messages of Mick Malthouse and others.’’ In contrast, while NSW have always been able to produce blinding individual talent, they’ve rarely found renown for their ability to connect. There’s the story of rugby league coaching supremo Jack Gibson coming down to train with the Blues in the 1970s. Gibson had been a first-grade bowler at the Waverly Club, and would send down serviceable inswing with a two-piecer in the nets. Legendary rugby league coach Jack Gibson identified the Blues' problem: They were on the same team, but they weren't mates. Credit:Fairfax Archive

After a similar period without success, he was asked for his view on the team’s culture. In his inimitably glib fashion, he said, ‘‘You’re good, but you’re not mates.’’ Nearly 50 years later, NSW find themselves in the final after a number of years in the four-day shade. Notionally Australian Cricket’s strongest state, paceman Trent Copeland points to ‘‘challenges with coaching changes, inexperienced coaches, and drastic turnover of retirees’’ as reasons for the state’s disproportionately poor returns in the game’s long form. He’s aware of his side’s stigma, too. ‘‘I’ve heard people claim New South Wales have a lot of individual talent, and that they get away with not being the greatest team," he says. "But undoubtedly, much of our success comes from the belief that it will continue producing players to play international cricket.’’ It’s a tricky balance for Thursday’s visitors, whose heritage and tradition has often compelled them to blood potential over performance. In 2017, Ed Cowan, 35, was axed for Daniel Hughes, 28. Despite scoring 959 runs the season prior at 73.77, Cowan was told directly by Cricket NSW administration that in their considered opinion, Hughes was a better shot at Test selection, and would therefore get the nod. Ed and buried: NSW axed veteran batsman Cowan despite his lofty average on the grounds that Daniel Hughes was a better bet for Test selection. Credit:AAP