Western District look to send star man Blake Dean out a winner in Douglas Cup decider against Weston Creek/Molonglo

It marks the retiring Dean's eighth appearance in the Cricket ACT two-day grand final, after moving to the region from Bathurst a decade ago and forging a reputation as one of the competition's all-time great players.

In 141 first-grade matches for Wests, Weston Creek and Queanbeyan, Dean has crafted 5368 runs at 40.06, including 10 centuries and a top score of 291.

He also has 171 wickets to his name, including career-best figures of 7-48.

Wests are keen to send their coach out a winner after three seasons with the club, but for Dean, the Douglas Cup decider at Phillip Oval means more than just securing another premiership.

He will line up alongside Alex Corver and against both Blake Faunce and David Waters, who have all been apart of his individual coaching program for many years.

"This will be another one of my favourite [moments] playing against and alongside kids I have coached for a long period of time," Dean said.

"It will be a pretty proud moment for me win or lose. But it is a bit of a surreal thing that every player I guess must go through.

"I would rather just go out on my own terms and I loved playing for Weston Creek. So it's two clubs I have had a lot to do with and I respect both sides a lot.

"I just want to enjoy my last game of premier cricket alongside two of my favourite clubs."

Dean has won every top-grade trophy as a player after moving to the capital from Bathurst to link up with his older brother Jono.

The pair played together at Queanbeyan and later on at Creek, where they combined to win the 2017-18 two-day premiership after sharing a mammoth 252-run stand.

Blake made his career-best 291 in that knock, while Jono finished with 205.

He then signed with Wests where he has been head coach for the past three seasons, delivering 14 titles across all five grades during that time.

"At the time [Dean joined Wests] we only had two junior players under the age of 18 playing at the club and now we have got up to 20, 25 if not 30 infiltrated from first grade down to two fives teams," Dean said.

"It's time to move on and keep moving forward in that full-time personal coaching role that I have been doing for a fare few years now."

Dean also had a short stint with the Sydney Thunder back in 2013, along with numerous appearances for the ACT, with his most recent being as a key part of the ACT Aces recent Regional Bash title triumph.

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Wests captain Joe Cooke said he was one of the all-time greats in ACT cricket history.

"He's in the top handful of players I've ever played with or against," Cooke said.

"His ability to deliver on the big stage, unfortunately I've been on the receiving end of it more than on the same team. He's a standout, anyone who can do what he does with the bat and the ball he's an asset to any team."

Creek star, and Dean's former teammate Robbie Trickett echoed Cooke's sentiments.

"He's probably one of the best players to play in Canberra - the time and effort he's put into cricket in Canberra, you can't really measure how important it's been," Trickett said.

Wests are out to defend their title, which they won last year without a ball being bowled in the decider which was also against Creek.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the week leading up to the final, and Cricket ACT was forced to shut down the competition, declaring minor premier Wests as champions.

"In the back of our minds we've always been kind of a little bit down that we didn't play the final last year. To be playing against Wests is a great opportunity - to play what last year could've been," Trickett said.