This time last year, the Panthers were excitedly preparing to end a 10-year A-grade finals drought.

That was until COVID reared its ugly head again and Victoria went into lockdown, putting an end to that weekend's first round of finals.

Within a few short weeks, the entire season would be shelved, leaving Marong and four other clubs to lament what might have been.

Twelve months on and the Panthers will finally get their long-awaited shot at finals. They intend to make the most of it.

The silver lining from no finals last season for the Panthers was no letdown in 2022.

Fourth last season and destined for an elimination final against Bridgewater, the Panthers finished this year's home and away season a spot higher and have secured the double chance.

That has led them to a qualifying final showdown this Saturday against Mitiamo on the Panthers' home court at Malone Park.

After a false start last season, coach Bianca Garton is looking forward to seeing where it all leads for her side.

"I'm obviously very happy we've landed the double chance - we have put ourselves in the best possible position to give it a red-hot crack and hopefully go deep in finals," she said.

"Given we've drawn with Mitiamo this season, we're pretty happy to be playing them, knowing what we are capable of doing.

"But it will just be a matter of playing well on the day."

The Panthers are likely to be without injured defender Tania Kerrison (ankle), while Rebecca Cluff (family commitments) is a definite non-starter.

That will open up opportunities for Paige Gordon and Bridget Jacobs to come up from B-grade.

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Garton is by no means concerned having had to contend with less than full-strength line-ups for most of the season.

"That's the good thing about Marong this year, we do have lots of depth. I'm very confident in those players," she said.

"Paige played for us in our last game at Calivil and got the job done, and Bridget did as well.

"But mainly we're just looking forward to the game.

"It's been a long time since Marong played finals and there is a lot of excitement around the club because every grade is in finals except for the 17s.

"There'll be a lot of nerves too, but that just comes with playing finals.

"I feel we are a lot stronger than last year; we were able to keep the same side and add in a bit of extra depth. But I feel we've had an extra 12 months to prepare for finals.

"We are feeling confident and I feel we are mentally prepared."

While the Panthers are very much the new kids on the finals block, Mitiamo is by any definition a seasoned campaigner.

The Superoos have been a regular fixture at finals time for well over a decade.

They were minor premiers in last year's finals-less season and premiers in the last completed season in 2019.

Like Garton at Marong, Superoos leader Laura Hicks has been thrilled with her side's run into finals, highlighted by wins in seven of their last eight matches.

That impressive win-loss sequence includes an 11-goal win over the Panthers in their July 2 encounter at Malone Park.

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Hicks believed the match-up would be a contrast in styles.

"They'll no doubt be pretty pumped after missing out (on finals) last year," she said.

"We're probably the opposite, it's not really our game style to be that really high-intensity game, we're more suited to a grind.

"We know they'll be up and about, but we'll just keep playing our slow and steady game. We're happy with where we sit right now going into finals."

While a second semi-final clash against top-ranked Maiden Gully YCW awaits the winner, the loser will meet the victor of Sunday's elimination final between Calivil United and Bridgewater.

The two teams have produced a pair of thrillers this season, with the Demons coming from behind to claim a two-goal win in round five and the Mean Machine exacting their revenge with a five-goal win in round 14.

Calivil United rounded its minor round commitments with a hard-fought four-goal win over Newbridge last week, while Bridgewater took the fight up to Mitiamo in an eight-goal loss.

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