There was no more disappointed Muddies player following their grand final series loss to Norths than ever reliable opening batsman and captain Ethan McCullough.

While he wasn’t amongst the runs on the weekend McCullough is a key reason why the Muddies finished as minor premiers and went into the series as favourites.

The quietly spoken and modest batsman returned seven double figure scores for the season, including three fifties, amongst a season tally of 297 runs.

“I was pretty happy with my batting, but I fell away at the back end of the season so that’s something I could have improved on,” McCullough told Newsport.

“I thought I started the year well and was happy with my form but I would have liked to have contributed more with the bat during the grand final series.

“Hopefully we can keep the same side and have another go at it next season.”

The loss of early wickets proved telling at Griffiths Park No.1.

“We really wanted to get off to a good start, set a foundation and build the innings from there,” he said.

“But we lost too many early wickets to build that platform.”