Gisborne will tomorrow take on Golden Square in the qualifying final at the Queen Elizabeth Oval.

The two sides finished second and third on the ladder, but considering what has happened in their two home and away meetings, Golden Square is raging hot favourite to win through to the second semi-final against South Bendigo next week.

Golden Square has won both its encounters against Gisborne this season by 49 and 159 points - the latter being Gisborne’s biggest defeat suffered in its 10 years in the BFL.

But rather than dwelling on those defeats, Elliott doesn’t want his players to forget that they won enough games during the home and away season to warrant a position in the top three and the double chance.

“We must believe that we are a great side,’’ Elliott said yesterday.

“We’ve been able to play some really good footy this year; we were good enough to win our first seven games of the season.

”We just need to get back to that belief we had early in the season, and we’ve basically got our full list back now, so we can’t make excuses of Luke Saunders, or Anthony Belcher, or Casey Summerfield, or Cameron Medica or Rod Sharp aren’t playing for us.

“We’ve got a full squad, and for the past two or three weeks that squad has been training together, and if training last night is any indication, then I think that squad is ready to embark on a positive finals campaign.

“With us this weekend, there’s no pressure on us . . . everyone just says South Bendigo and Golden Square will play off in the grand final, but their biggest obstacle is getting there.

“For us, we’re a bit like Golden Square was last year.

“No-one predicted Square to get to the grand final, so they could just go out and play with that freedom.

“The wheels have now turned and for whatever the scenario is, whether South Bendigo and Golden Square have improved, or we have dropped away, we’re now in a situation where we can just go out and play with no pressure.’’

While Gisborne will start rank underdogs tomorrow, its selected boasts premiership players on every line with Matt McKenzie, Ryan Webster, Cameron Medica, Stewart Hamilton, Ollie Messaoudi, Elliott, captain Anthony Belcher, Darren Farrugia, Callan Potter, Luke Saunders, Jason Duff-Tytler and Rod Sharp.

“Those guys have proven they can get the results at this time of year, and then there are blokes like Shaun Comerford and Casey Summerfield who are desperate to achieve senior success,’’ Elliott said.

“We believe we have a good side.’’