NEWTOWN & Chilwell coach Jacob Spolding knew his side's season could go either way when the siren sounded at the end of round one.
The Eagles had just handed North Shore its first win in two years and a shadow was cast over the credentials of the players at Elderslie Reserve.
However, the early loss will be a distant memory in Spolding's mind as the club prepares to take on Colac in a do-or-die final at Skilled Stadium on Sunday.
"Things didn't go to plan at that stage (round one). It looked a little bleak," he said.
"But to the players' and the club's credit they got on with the job. We did really well to finish fourth.
"It is our first finals since 2007, so we are pretty excited."
Spolding said his players had the chance to train on Skilled Stadium during the year.
"To play on Skilled Stadium is a fantastic thing to do, we have had a run around there," he said.
"We had the opportunity to train with the Geelong VFL side, which is good."
Spolding said the playing list was as healthy as it had been all year, with no players under injury clouds.
For Colac coach Matthew Gibson, the Tigers will enjoy a finals series without expectation.
The Tigers scraped their way into finals this season and unlike previous years the club had to battle to make the top-five.
"We are happy to be there (finals). But we are not satisfied at all," Gibson said.
"In previous years we have had a finals position shored up pretty early. Since we had to battle to get in this time, I don't think we have the expectation from the GFL public."
Gibson said the club was satisfied about making finals, and wanted to have an impact at the pointy end of the year.
"We want to have an impact, we think we have the players to do it," he said.
"We have all three teams in the finals, its the first time since we made the GFL that it has happened. There is a real buzz here."