STRONG form, a healthy list to pick from, the reserves with their season still alive keeping pressure on for spots - Lockington-Bamawm United coach Brodie Collins couldn't ask for a better position to be in as his side prepares to launch its finals campaign.

Following a home and away season in which they finished two games clear on top of the ladder with a 15-1 record, the Cats will face Mount Pleasant in Saturday's Heathcote District league second semi-final at Gunbower.

The winner will book the first berth in the grand final, while the loser will have to back up again next week against either Colbinabbin or White Hills in the preliminary final.

"The boys are very keen to get stuck into it... it's obviously an exciting time of the year," LBU coach Brodie Collins said on Friday.

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"Basically, at this stage we've got everyone available and overall, the club is in a good position given we've got the seniors playing Saturday and our reserves and thirds playing on Sunday.

"With our reserves winning last week (against North Bendigo in the elimination final) it has helped dramatically because we can have a couple of players filter back into the twos to play this weekend and it obviously keeps the pressure for spots up."

The Cats will ride a winning streak of nine in a row by an average of 73 points into Saturday's clash.

"We feel we're in a good position, but it's all about turning up on Saturday and playing the brand of footy again that we've been playing all year," Collins said.

"Yes, it's a final, but as I said to the boys this week, it doesn't change the way we play or prepare."

It has already been a big week for the Cats with ruckman Tyler Phillips a runaway winner of the Sam Cheatley Medal, polling 34 votes.

"Tyler is an outstanding player and has had a fantastic season," Collins said.

"We're very proud of Tyler, but his focus now is very much on trying to beat Chris Down (Mount Pleasant ruckman), who is a very good player, so it's going to be a great challenge for him."

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Mount Pleasant has made one change to last week's team that beat Colbinabbin by 26 points in the qualifying final, with Michael Whiting coming back in from a hamstring injury, while Reardon McIvor is out.

Of the three losses the Blues have suffered this year, two have been at the hands of the Cats by 23 points in round 15 and 31 points in round six.

"We know it's going to take a four-quarter performance to beat them," Blues' co-coach Darren Walsh said.

"Ideally, we'd like to get off to a good start like we did against Colbo last week, so we'll have to be on our game from the first bounce until the final siren.

"It looks like Locky has got a strong side in, so it's going to be a great challenge for us."

While the loser has the safety net of another opportunity next week, it's not the case for Colbinabbin or White Hills in Sunday's elimination final at Toolleen.

Having been comprehensively outplayed by Mount Pleasant last week, the Grasshoppers have two key inclusions in Ben Southam and Laine Fitzgerald to add some class through the middle of the ground, while Michael Battista (hamstring) and coach Julian Bull are out from last week's side.

"We've got quite a few players with little finals experience and no-one has played finals for a few years, so we probably got caught a bit in the bright lights last week," Bull said.

"We've spoken a lot about that this week and really honed in on the team things that get us going rather than individually, so that has been our big focus."

While the Grasshoppers are coming off a loss last week, the Demons are riding a wave of four wins in a row - including against North Bendigo in last week's elimination final - under newly reappointed coach Jack Fallon.

The Demons named an unchanged team.

"It was a great win last week and it does show that our best footy is up to the finals standard, but like every week we've been quick to move on and focus on Colbo," Fallon said.

"We know that we can do it, it's a matter of bringing the heat for four quarters."

The Grasshoppers are 2-0 in their head-to-head meetings with the Demons this year.

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