With one round to go, Young Lions are still in with a shot of qualifying for Pascoe Plate finals, and they're determined to make it.

“It’d be massive,” he said.

“Especially considering we lost 80 per cent of our playing squad from last year.

“A lot of our players have stepped up from juniors, and a lot of them play two sports, and they’re backing up and doing pretty well.”

Like Henwood Park, Wagga United, Tolland, and Lake Albert, Young’s council-owned training grounds were inaccessible in June and July.

“For five or six weeks, we didn’t get to train on grass at all,” he said.

“We’ve not been able to work on those key things.”

Ninth-placed Young needs at least a draw against third-placed Tolland at Young on Sunday.

Tolland coach Dave Antill has said he will rest key players to ensure the team’s performance peaks at finals.

“It will be hard, even with players rested,” McCaffery said. 

“You don’t go unbeaten that long without having depth in the squad.”

Concentration has been the Lions’ Achilles heel.

“To win we need to do the basics,” he said.

“Focus for the full 90 minutes, instead of 20 or 30 minutes here and there.”

If eighth-placed Tumut defeats on-form Junee in Tumut on Sunday, Young has no chance of qualifying.

Tumut Eagles coach Matthew Lopez doesn’t rate their chances of winning.

“We’re a bit undermanned, we have multiple unavailabilities,” he said.

“We’ll just make the 11.

“It’s been a positive season on our behalf, I’ve watched the players grow in confidence and in stature.”