Neerim South is set to take on Trafalgar in the Ellinbank District Football League grand final on Saturday.
The Cats have been the undisputed best team all season, unbeaten and finishing the home and away season with a percentage of 376.
Challenged by Longwarry in the second semi final, Neerim South stirringly came back in the last quarter and showed a steeliness to win with their backs against the wall and playing well below their best footy.
Given how comfortably many of the games have been won in 2025, the Cats’ capacity to dig deep and find another gear at their time of greatest need was important for their confidence heading into the big dance.
That followed a similarly impressive comeback against Buln Buln in the last round of the home and away season.
Trafalgar finished second and has throughout the season been widely viewed as the side most likely to challenge Neerim South for the flag.
The Bloods lost their two matches against the Cats by 32 and 13 points in the home and away season.
They will, however, be without important defender Connor Noonan, with significant doubt around key forward Blake Slater who failed to play out the match on Saturday.
While Neerim South will go in as heavy favourites and has been the hunted side all year, playing co-coach Tom Muir offered an insight into how the Cats are internally looking to alleviate the pressure of expectation.
“We used the analogy that we hadn’t won a final and Longwarry had, so we turned it around to us hunting them, and we really brought that message at halftime because we were behind and had to hunt them, and there will be a similar message this week with Trafalgar 2-1 and us 1-0,” Muir said.
While Buln Buln has won back-to-back flags, Neerim South has been one of the power sides of the Ellinbank District Football League competition since the pandemic.
The Cats won the premiership in 2022, came runner up in 2023 before bowing out in semi final weekend last year.
“There’s a lot of excitement amongst the group,” Muir said.
“We had a training session on Saturday and everyone was really keen and ready to enjoy this week and the lead up to the grand final.
“If the boys follow the game plan we’ve brought in this year, it will go a long way to us playing well and (the finals experience) definitely holds us in good stead.”
The acquisitions of 100-goal kicker Mason McGarrity from Warragul Industrials and return of Lachie Bambridge have been significant in Neerim South returning to the grand final this season, having last season lacked forward firepower.
“We can’t get caught up bombing it to Mason because we’ve probably got a bit Mason-conscious since he got to 100 and we have a few different setups to put ‘Traf’ off,” Muir said.
“If (Mason, Kai Mounsey and Bambridge) can get up and going it will be hard to stop especially with Tyssen Morrow and Luke Kinder down there too.”
Another big lift that the Cats have brought in 2025 which stacks up well in finals is pressure, which has allowed them to dominate territory throughout 2025 and intercept off halfback.
“We’ve focussed a lot on defence this year,” Muir said.
“We have a good offence this year, we know that so we’ve focussed on team defence.
“We’ve kept most of the (teams in the) league to their lowest score and we use run and drive off the backline with myself and Dean Stringer.
“The biggest thing has been team defence and team play.”
The match begins at 2.20pm at Trafalgar.
Bunyip will take on Poowong in the Under-16s Grand Final, Buln Buln will face off against Ellinbank in the Under-18s grand final and Lang Lang has Trafalgar in the reserves game.
