After 20 rounds of home and away football and netball and three weeks of some exciting finals matches we are now down to the Grand Finals to be played at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve on Saturday 20 September.
KDFNL Publicity Officer Sam Saracino provides his insight on what to expect on the day.
Football
The big dance will be played between Merrigum and Nagambie. The Lakers advanced to the Grand Final after accounting for last year's premier Murchison in the preliminary final.
Merrigum will be chasing its first flag since Bob Walters guided them to the 1990 title while Nagambie last won the title in 2010.
Coach Christian Barnett has done an excellent job in getting the Dogs from battler to premiership contender in the space of three years.
"Barney" took the reins at the start of 2011 after the club went through 2010 winless. In his first season it was a battle early before they finished off the season superbly to win seven of their last nine games.
Last year, he led the Doggies to second place on the ladder only to suffer an embarrassing two finals defeats and go out in straight sets. They removed the monkey from their back a fortnight ago when they won their first final in a long time.
The even contribution is what helped them win that match against the Lakers two weeks ago. Down back they have been well led by Rob Knowles, Greame Giles and Michael Barca. Through the middle they have many stars with Josh Pell, Ramadan Yze, Rohan Hearn and Barnett. Down forward they have plenty of options, with Bryce Wellington and Chris Kilmartin leading the scoring.
Nagambie deserve to play in the grand final, having now won 17 games through the season. A daunting aspect of their season is that they have lost three times against Merrigum. Linc Sullivan would have be buoyed by the way his team played a fortnight to create plenty of scoring opportunities. Unfortunately they paid the price for bad kicking and kicked themselves out of the contest.
As far as match ups, they have plenty of match winners who can swing the game. They come in the form of the Hutton brothers - Ben and Jackson, Shiels brothers - Mick and Jason, David Price, Steve Barber and Mark Nolan. Add the improvement of Jayden Gleeson and Nathan Fothergill and the Lakers have plenty of players capable of winning the game for them. Add 100 goal full forward Pat Rattray, Tyrone Muir and Tom Stevens and it gives them a forward line capable of posing a big threat to the Bulldogs.
I tipped Nagambie at the start of the year and I am not about to jump off now.
Good luck to Lancaster and Rushworth who do battle in the reserves and best of luck to Avenel and Ardmona who clash in the U18s.
Netball
The A grade grand final should be a classic. It is fair to say that based from the finals series Tallgaroopna and Lancaster deserve to play off in the big dance.
Kelli Halden has done a marvellous job to get her team up each week for the finals. They have been playing high impact-high intensity games for eight weeks now. Tallygaroopna came up against Stanhope, Violet Town and Avenel in the last four weeks of the home and away and then backed it up with wins against Merrigum in the elimination final and Avenel in the first semi-final. Then they tossed out Stanhope, with the minor premier losing both its finals.
Tallygaroopna has been able to get to the Big One off the back of an excellent game from Rebecca Humphrey, last week's MVP Madison Brett and good support from Fiona Down. Other players to contribute during the finals included defensive duo Kayla Woodhouse and Bree Giles.
Lancaster has been an outstanding team this year. Ellie Lothian and Pam O'Sullivan have both been outstanding players for the Wombats, especially Lothian, the very talented Warren Medallist who is still eligible for Under 17s but has made the jump to A grade and starred.
Another player who is in really good form is Leanne Couston. She starred in the 2nd Semi Final while other players to play well in the win a fortnight ago included Pip Inglis through the middle of the court and young defender Kayla Casey.
It promises to be a sensational game of netball. The teams shared their matches this year, with Tallygaroopna winning the second meeting between the teams after Lancaster gave the Redlegs' a netball lesson back in April.
Not much will separate these teams, but I am going for Lancaster in a thriller.
Good luck to all the other teams competing in what will, once again be a great celebration for the League.
Last Modified on 17/12/2014 12:42