IF their last meeting is anything to go by, Sunday's elimination final between Horsham Saints and Warrack Eagles will go down to the wire.
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The Eagles prevailed by three goals when the sides met in round 8. But the Saints turned the tables in round 17 with a nail-biting one-point win.
Many in the competition would have expected the Saints to be facing the Giants in a qualifying final, particularly after the Saints were in hot form when they beat Giants in round 16.
But a loss to the Burras in the final round saw the Saints relegated to fourth spot on the ladder.
Horsham Saints coach Luke Fisher said his charges were feeling confident ahead of Sunday’s game.
“It was only a couple of weeks ago that we had the win over the Eagles,” he said.
“We had a few players out and I know they did too. But we take a bit of confidence from that win, even though it was in pretty poor conditions.”
Fisher said winning the ball out of the middle was crucial to his side’s chances.
“We need to make sure we get it going our way so we can get enough score on the board,” he said.
“They have some key players we'll have to keep and eye on, but we'll be focusing on what we're doing and what we need to do to win the game.”
Warrack Eagles coach Ryan McKenzie said ladder positions did not mean much heading into finals.
“We rolled Saints once this year, so we’re pretty confident that if we can play decent enough footy, we can win,” he said.
“When we won against them, we were able to get the ball inside 50 quick enough to give our guys a chance at one on one contests.
“Our focus will be moving the ball as quick as we can and getting it into our forward line before they have time to get numbers back.”