The Tigers will take on Eaglehawk in the elimination final in what will be Kyneton’s first senior finals appearance since 2003 – and the first time the two clubs have met in September since the 1987 qualifying final the Hawks won by 20 points.

Since 1950, no BFL club has gone through a longer stint without finals action than the 12 years the Tigers have endured.

The only finals droughts on par over the past 65 years have been the 12 years Castlemaine had to wait from playing finals in 1962 to its next appearance in 1974, while after making finals in its debut BFL season in 1983, North Bendigo didn’t make the top five again in the following 12 years before joining the HDFL.

The Tigers will be joined in September by Strathfieldsaye, Golden Square, Sandhurst and Eaglehawk – all clubs that have won flags since Kyneton last played finals.

To get an understanding of just how significant this weekend is for the Tigers – particularly the long-suffering supporters who have stuck with the club through the tough times – you have to acknowledge the past.

Since the 2003 elimination final loss to Sandhurst by 29 points at Canterbury Park under coach Peter Foster, there have been some hellacious years for the Tigers.

No wins in 2011; one win in 2004, 2008 and 2009; no more than six wins in a season until this year’s eight; 51 losses out of 192 games by at least 100 points - five of them by more than 200 points - and the seemingly constant talk about the club being out of its depth in Bendigo and better suited to the Riddell District league.

And of course the year when it all came to crisis point in 2013 when the Tigers suffered a mass walkout and weren’t left with the target 25 senior quality players they had been set by the BFL and their senior side went into recess.

However, the club retained a pulse with the reserves and under-18 football teams and netball sides continuing, with one of the biggest lessons learned from the demise of the senior team being the need to change the culture at the club.

Off-field the club under president Rob Waters, who took on the role in May, 2013, and the committee has done a power of work to reinvigorate and steer the club back in the right direction, while former coach Mark Adamson – who was sacked a month ago and replaced by Luke Beattie – recruited a new list that less than 40 games since the year in recess is stepping into the cauldron of finals footy.

As the Tigers tweeted after securing their finals berth after last Saturday’s 65-point win over Maryborough: “We’re back”.