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READ MORE - SELECTION NIGHT - weekend finals football teams
MOMENTUM - it's one of the key ingredients to any successful September campaign.
And it's what Mount Pleasant hits Saturday's Heathcote District league preliminary final against North Bendigo with plenty of.
Since half-time of the elimination final against White Hills a fortnight ago Darren Walsh's Blues have been brilliant in what has been an impressive return to finals for Mount Pleasant.
The Blues' season looked to be teetering on the edge when they trailed White Hills by 20 points early in the third quarter of the elimination final - but then came the stunning eight-goal in 15 minutes blitz that proved the catalyst for what became a nine-point victory.
Then there was the devastating onslaught early against the shell-shocked Lockington-Bamawm United in last Sunday's first semi-final.
The Blues made a mockery of their underdog tag when they used another burst to break the Cats - seven goals in a row that ultimately sent LBU packing in straight sets.
Not only do the in-form Blues go into Saturday's clash at Huntly with momentum behind them, they have now shown twice in the past fortnight the carnage they can inflict when they gain momentum within games.
Forward Ben Weightman has been superb this finals series with two hauls of seven and six goals, but it's in the midfield where the Blues have been ultra-impressive.
Through those match-winning bursts against the Demons and Cats the Blues barely lost a centre clearance, with the engine room of Luke Marchesi, Billy Mahony, Nick Edwards, Jesse Tuohey, the big body of Daniel Davie, ruckman Mitch Bennett and co all setting the tone superbly.
On Saturday that red-hot Mount Pleasant midfield goes up against a North Bendigo on-ball unit that is headlined by three Cheatley Medal winners - Joel Helman (this year), Jarrod Findlay (2017) and Tyson Findlay (2014), who you'd expect to lead a ruthless response from last week's second semi-final loss to Colbinabbin when the 26-point margin flattered the outplayed Bulldogs.
Coach Matt Dillon labelled it as disappointing a performance as his time at North Bendigo - but the record shows that the Bulldogs usually don't put in two ordinary performances in a row.
The Bulldogs haven't lost two games in a row since 2013. Since then their average winning margin coming off a loss is 93 points.
This is a well-worn path for North Bendigo, which has played in the past four preliminary finals and won them all by margins of 39, 36, 28 and 70 points.
But this has been a HDFNL finals series that has very much been a case of expect the unexpected.
Of the four finals played so far, the lower-ranked team has won three of them - and if it happens again on Saturday at Huntly then next week's grand final will feature the teams that finished third (Colbinabbin) and fourth (Mount Pleasant).
That is unless the Bulldogs come out and show why they finished two games clear on top of the ladder.
THE TEAMS:
NORTH BENDIGO v. MOUNT PLEASANT
North Bendigo
B: T. Metherell, S. Harris, J. Donat
HB: A. Craig, B. Thomson, L. Ford
C: T. Devereaux, T. Findlay, C. Tardrew
HF: R. Alford, J. Ford, J. Hyland
F: Z. Alford, B. Herdman, S. Giri
R: J. Lambden, J. Helman, J. Findlay
Int: R. Gow, M. Thalasinos, J. Collins, B. Robertson
In: R. Gow, B. Robertson
Out: B. Knight, C. McLoughlan
Mount Pleasant
To be selected from: J. Hetherington, J. Hancock, H. Steinfort, J. Connelly, F. Cole, C. Moore, T. McNamara, N. Butler, D. Young, J. Hetherington, J. Tuohey, T. Griffin, J. Hancock, Z. Murrell, B. Mahony, H. Steinfort, L. Marchesi, D. Davie, J. Connelly, B. Weightman, C. Green, S. Spijkerman, T. Pontell, C. Trotman, M. Bennett, N. Edwards
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