The stage is set for a classic Bendigo Football Netball League grand final after Strathfieldsaye Storm disposed of Sandhurst in Saturday's preliminary final.
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The Storm gave grand final opponent Eaglehawk and the rest of the BFNL a reminder of their class in the 29-point victory.
A ruthless seven-goal to one burst in the second term set up a match-winning 51-point lead at the main break before the Dragons made the scoreboard look more respectable in the second half.
"We know our best footy is as good as anyone's in the competition, it was just a matter of bringing that footy to the table,'' Storm coach Troy Coates said after the 13.14 (92) to 9.9 (63) win.
"(Leading into the second semi-final) we had a lot of guys coming off long injury breaks, who just hadn't played much senior footy.
"Getting another game into ourselves is really good for the group. We were really flat against Eaglehawk, but this time we really brought the energy and the pressure and it showed on the scoreboard."
That engery and pressure was evident in the second quarter blitz. After kicking three goals to one with the breeze in the opening quarter, the Storm lifted a gear against the breeze.
The Dragons couldn't match the lift in intensity and the Storm pounced. Key forward Bryce Curnow and coach Coates led the charge for the Storm.
"As a forward group we were really disappointed with our output against Eaglehawk,'' Coates admitted.
"We looked slow and when the ball hit the ground in the forward line we didn't apply any pressure.
"We put a big emphasis on that this week and I thought we managed to put a lot of pressure on their backs."
Sandhurst became undisciplined and lost its structure in the second quarter. The Dragons premiership dream slipped away in the space of 30 minutes.
"Full credit to Strathfieldsaye they were just too good,'' Sandhurst coach Andrew Collins said.
"They were very good winning the ball and they were very good on the outside as well.
"I thought we played well in the second half, but you just can't give a team like that a big start."
All the talk leading into the preliminary was that Storm star Kallen Geary would miss a second-straight final because of a quadricep injury.
Geary played and he showed why he's arguably the premier player in the competition.
He tore the Sandhurst midfield apart with his hard running and ball-winning ability. He capped his best on ground performance with a couple of goals.
Older brother Shannon Geary continued his outstanding season off half-back and Curnow was the best forward on the ground with five goals.
The only negative for the Storm was a shoulder injury to rising star Bailey Henderson. The 19-year-old left the ground in the second quarter and didn't return. He hasn't been ruled out of the grand final.
"It started out as a stinger, but then he went back out on the ground and his shoulder popped out,'' Coates said.
"The shoulder went back in, but we're not sure how bad it is. He'll go for scans on Monday and we'll wait and see how he goes over the next few days."
