WA coach Justin Langer believes playing on Manuka Oval for the second week in a row will aid his side's quest to be the first since 2005 to win a Sheffield Shield final away from home.
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Recent history is firmly in the favour of NSW when it ''hosts'' the Warriors in Canberra, starting on Friday. The SCG is unavailable because of the Major League Baseball opening series.
The team that has hosted the final has collected the trophy in the past eight years, and only two of those were decided by draws after the five days.
Langer took plenty of positives out of his side's three-wicket loss to the Blues last week after the Warriors recovered from 5-15 in the opening session on the first day to doggedly get back in the contest.
After having a glance at the pitch on Thursday, Langer said both sets of spinners – the NSW duo of Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe along with WA's Ashton Agar and Marcus North – would have a major influence on the result.
"We have a great advantage playing here last week,'' Langer said.
"It looks a bit drier than it did for the last game and has a little less grass on it, so as I suspected it's going to take spin and it will reverse swing.
"As silly as it might sound, we took great confidence out of the last game.
"It was disappointing to get bowled out for 82 in the first innings, but we could have stole the game.''
The Blues appear to have the upper hand in the spin department, boasting both Australia's No.1 slow bowler in Lyon and O'Keefe, the leading wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield this season.
In contrast, the Warriors will call on Agar, the 20-year-old who played two Tests in last year's Ashes tour in England, and the part-time off-spin of North.
"Nathan Lyon is the current Australian off-spinner, a fantastic competitor and he's had a great year,'' Langer said.
"We've got Marcus North, who's bowling as well as anyone in the country with his off-spinners and Ashton Agar, the most exciting talent in Australia.
"The team that holds its nerve and has the most steel will win the match.''
The Blues will welcome back all-rounder Moises Henriques in place of paceman Doug Bollinger, who was called up to the Australian team for the Twenty20 World Cup.
The Warriors are likely to recall all-rounder Mitch Marsh, who will play as a specialist batsman because of a side strain.
