![Heathcote forward Corey Grindlay and Mount Pleasant half-back Bryce Hinneberg. The Saints and Blues will meet in Saturday's Heathcote District league grand final at Huntly. Heathcote forward Corey Grindlay and Mount Pleasant half-back Bryce Hinneberg. The Saints and Blues will meet in Saturday's Heathcote District league grand final at Huntly.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/G3M3FqVFYHjdnjXX9zgHHX/5bac9be8-e3fc-4c7e-85c9-e67d7ef777b2.jpg/r94_51_3206_2111_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
BENDIGO LEAGUE
PRELIMINARY FINAL
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SANDHURST v STRATHFIELDSAYE
2.20pm Saturday at QEO.
A crack at Golden Square for the 2023 BFNL premiership awaits the winner of Sandhurst and Strathfieldsaye on Saturday.
The Storm and Dragons clash in the preliminary final at the QEO.
Having been the standout side of the home and away season finishing on top of the ladder, the Dragons were beaten by Golden Square by 14 points in last week's second semi-final.
To book their ticket into their first grand final since winning their last premiership in 2016 the Dragons will now have to overcome a Strathfieldsaye side that is coming off a 35-point win over Eaglehawk in last Sunday's first semi-final.
The Storm will have to make one forced change to their line-up with ruckman Tim Hosking to miss through concussion.
Going into Saturday's clash without their No.1 ruckman certainly adds to the challenge for the Storm given the Dragons feature the competition's most dominant big man in Hamish Hosking.
"It's disappointing for Tim that he will miss this week, but we've got Caleb Ernst and Jed Brereton who we can play through the ruck," Storm coach Darryl Wilson said this week.
"We know Hosking is a dominant ruckman, so we have to be smart in the way we go about it in rucking against him.
"We have to make some selection decisions around whether Jack (Exell, ankle) comes back or we go with Joe Mayes as a key back, bring another ruckman in George Simpson in or bring in some more pace given it's going to be somewhere up around 26 degrees... we're mindful of not having too many guys in who are going to be too slow for those types of conditions."
Hosking is the only forced change either team will have to make from last week after Sandhurst got through its game against Golden Square unscathed.
"Apart from Lachie Hood (foot) and potentially Joel (Wharton, quad) we're pretty right as far as availability goes," Dragons' co-coach Ashley Connick said.
"Joel trained on Tuesday night and will train again on Thursday night; if he gets through that session he will be in the picture for the weekend. He's a player we've missed, so, hopefully, he can get through."
The Dragons hold a 2-0 head-to-head advantage over Strathfieldsaye this year, winning by 30 points in round four and 27 points in their round 13 tussle at the QEO.
The stingy Sandhurst defence held up brilliantly in both games, allowing the Storm just 12 goals from a combined 79 inside 50s.
SEASON MEETINGS:
Round 4 - Sandhurst 11.13 (79) def Strathfieldsaye 7.7 (49) at Tannery Lane.
Best - Sandhurst James Coghlan, Andrew Collins, Isaac Ruff. Strathfieldsaye: Mitch Hallinan, Jed Brereton, James Schischka.
Round 13 - Sandhurst 9.13 (67) def Strathfieldsaye 5.10 (40) at QEO.
Best - Sandhurst James Coghlan, Andrew Collins, Hamish Hosking. Strathfieldsaye: Riley Wilson, Patrick Blandford, Ben Lester.
PREMIER DATA AVERAGES:
Disposals - Sand: 369. Strath: 400.
Clearances - Sand: 47. Strath: 41.
Marks - Sand: 88. Strath: 119.
Inside 50s - Sand: 58. Strath: 55.
Hit-outs - Sand: 51. Strath: 43.
Tackles - Sand: 43. Strath: 41.
.............................................
SELECTIONS:
Adam Bourke - Sandhurst (3).
Luke West - Sandhurst (2).
Nathan Spicer - Sandhurst (24).
Richard Jones - Sandhurst (21).
![Football final preview, tips, how they match-up - BFNL, HDFNL Football final preview, tips, how they match-up - BFNL, HDFNL](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/G3M3FqVFYHjdnjXX9zgHHX/eee221b1-2a14-4529-a3c4-5651fe0b942d.png/r0_0_483_358_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
![Football final preview, tips, how they match-up - BFNL, HDFNL Football final preview, tips, how they match-up - BFNL, HDFNL](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/G3M3FqVFYHjdnjXX9zgHHX/972bcbd2-d447-44cd-bc15-bf887f0cf8f7.jpg/r0_0_2362_1772_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
HEATHCOTE DISTRICT LEAGUE
GRAND FINAL
HEATHCOTE v MOUNT PLEASANT
2.15pm Saturday at Huntly.
It will be the 1990s revisited on Saturday when Heathcote and Mount Pleasant lock horns in the Heathcote District league grand final at Huntly's Strauch Reserve.
Long-time HDFNL supporters will remember the great rivalry between the two clubs when they faced off in four consecutive grand finals between 1992 and 1995 (Mounts won three of them), with Saturday's battle to be their first for the flag since.
The game is a case of one side going in fresh versus the other that is battle-hardened having had to do it the hard way.
Heathcote - gunning for its first premiership since 2010 - finished on top of the ladder and took the direct route into the grand final, beating White Hills by 15 points in the second semi-final on September 2.
Saturday will be just the second game in 28 days for the Saints, whereas Mount Pleasant - despite missing one of the superstars of the competition in co-coach Ben Weightman (back) for its entire finals campaign - after finishing fourth has had to fight its way through from the elimination final to win three cut-throat matches against Leitchville-Gunbower (26 points), North Bendigo (14) and White Hills (4).
The Blues - last year's runners-up and hunting their first flag since 2006 - certainly have momentum behind them, but history is against them. Since the introduction of the HDFNL top five in 2001 no team from outside the top three has won the flag.
In fact, the Blues are only the second team behind North Bendigo (lost to LBU by 94 points in 2012) to make a grand final in the top-five era from outside the top three.
The grand final combatants have played two hard-fought matches against each other already this year, with the Saints winning both by nine points and four points.
"Momentum and the winning formula to keep going has helped us this year. It's really exciting for the club to be back there again in the grand final," Mount Pleasant co-coach Adam Baird said.
"Heathcote is the only side we haven't beaten this year. They've beat us by nine points and four points, so we're not that far away. We just have to believe in ourselves that we can get over the top of them."
SEASON MEETINGS:
Round 6 - Heathcote 11.8 (74) def Mount Pleasant 9.11 (65) at Toolleen.
Best - Heathcote: Braden Padmore, Connor Hamilton, Bill Direen. Mount Pleasant: Riley McNamara, Bryce Hinneberg, Fletcher White.
Round 15 - Heathcote 11.9 (75) def Mount Pleasant 10.11 (71) at Heathcote.
Best - Heathcote: Braden Padmore, Connor Hamilton, Ben Connelly. Mount Pleasant: Ben Weightman, Will Wallace, Adam Baird.
.............................................
SELECTIONS:
Adam Bourke - Heathcote (22).
Luke West - Heathcote (28).
![Football final preview, tips, how they match-up - BFNL, HDFNL Football final preview, tips, how they match-up - BFNL, HDFNL](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/G3M3FqVFYHjdnjXX9zgHHX/12604949-fdb4-43ce-b13a-6c7c5e6b40b9.png/r0_0_483_341_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
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