Preview: AFL Sydney grand finals

All eyes will be on Blacktown International Sportspark when the grand final of the AFL Sydney Premier Division takes place this Saturday.

Manly-Warringah will take on Pennant Hills in the blockbuster clash, with both sides looking to cap off the year with some highly-coveted silverware.

It will be difficult to split the two sides based on their previous encounters this year, with Manly accounting for Pennant Hills by eight points in Round 3, and Pennant Hills reversing their fortunes and coming away with an 84-69 win when they met again in Round 12.

Manly-Warringah coach, Leigh Brain, said his side would have to match Pennant Hills’ skill level and stick to their game plan if they were to stand any chance of ending the season as premiers.

“I think the big key for us is our skill level, we’ve just got to execute,” said Brain.

“Penno’s probably the most skilled team in the competition and if we can’t match it with their skills that will be something that will go against us.

“We need to make sure the game plan we implement is followed, so if we can concentrate on both of those areas then we’re in with a big chance.

Brain’s counterpart, Pennant Hills’ Chris Yard, believed that his players would need to stand up and be counted to cause an upset by hopefully toppling the minor premiers.

“I think we just need to stand up in big games, so if we can get the majority of our guys to stand up, that will take us a long way to winning,” said Yard.

“We need to stand up when it counts in big games, there’s no tomorrow so we need to get in there and put our best foot forward and make sure we’re performing at our peak on the day.”

After finishing on top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season, Manly Warringah won their way through to the decider after an 18-point win over St George in the semi-finals, a victory that gave them a well earned rest last week.

Pennant Hills took a more scenic route to the end-of-season showpiece, ending the year in fourth before making a stunning run to the grand final by knocking off their more fancied opponents in the North Shore Bombers and then St George in the preliminary final.

Brain said that far from feeling the pressure of heading into the grand final as favourites after claiming the minor premiership, his players were more excited about getting the opportunity to strut their stuff on the big stage.

“I don’t think we’ve got that sort of pressure on us…the consensus is that we’ve probably been fortunate to get there so in our minds we probably don’t have that pressure on us as we had in previous years.

“I think the guys are more excited about playing this year than worrying about the pressure.

“The club’s very excited about the weekend and I’m sure the guys will be out there doing the best they can and we’ll go out and enjoy ourselves.”

The first bounce of the ball will be at Blacktown International Sportspark this Saturday September 21 at 3:30pm.

The Division One grand final of the AFL Sydney competition will also take place this weekend as a curtain raiser to the Premier Division decider.

Southern Power and UNSW/Eastern Suburbs (ES) will fight it out for the right to claim the title of 2013 premiers when they do battle on Saturday.

The Power are overwhelming favourites going into the clash, having defeated the Bulldogs by 56 points in Round 5, before thrashing them 124-37 again in Round 15.

They will be looking to carry their outstanding form into the most important match of the year after finishing the home-and-away season as minor premiers, and should head into the fixture fit and fresh after their win against the UTS Bats in their semi-final ensured they had the week off last week.

UNSW/ES faced a much tougher road to the decider, finishing in fourth and booking their spot in the grand final after a tough eight-point win in their preliminary final clash against UTS.

Southern Power will be keen to atone for their losses in the previous two Division One grand finals at the hands of Manly-Warringah.