HANWOOD coach Anthony Agresta says tussling with a Lake Albert side with "a point to prove" in June was the battle that reinforced to the Pascoe Cup newcomers that Wagga clubs are hell-bent on keeping the trophy in town.
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Before Hanwood played the Sharks for the first time this season the Griffith club was unbeaten through eight games, and were yet to even concede a goal.
But after a 2-all draw at Rawlings Park in one of the games of the year, Hanwood knew the Wagga-Griffith rivalry will be a tough barrier to overcome.
"Us being part of the competition this year has added a different element, it's made the Wagga teams step up again and say 'you're not going to have it all your own way', which is good because it's made us step up a level too," Agresta said.
"They're defending premiers and they have a fair bit of pride being one of the bigger teams in town, and that's understandable.
"That day they probably had a point to prove with the start we had, and you could definitely see they were up and about.
"I'm not saying we didn't match it, but once that happened we stepped up a gear and got to 2-1 up and could have been 3-1 (after a missed penalty), but the good thing was we dug in ourselves and fought back."
Both meetings this year have finished 2-all, with the winner of Sunday's clash to advance directly to the grand final.
Minor premiers Hanwood had the first week of finals off while the Sharks need a late extra time penalty to outlast Henwood Park in the qualifying final.
Hanwood and Lake Albert will also meet in the reserve grade major semi final, while their women's team will also battle for a grand final spot against Tolland.
"It's a good achievement by the club to get into this situation across the whole comp," Agresta said.
Both teams like to play attacking football, but Agresta expects a more guarded approach from both teams as the stakes rise.
"There's a grand final spot up for grabs so I expect it to be more cagey and not defensive so to speak, but it won't be as open and flowing as the first two games," he said.
"We can't afford to switch off at any stage of the game and we have to be right on top of things.
"We've seen in both games this year (against Sharks) that any slip up and they're a team that can punish you for it."
Sunday's game is scheduled for 3pm at Rawlings Park's no.1 ground.
PASCOE CUP (Both games 3pm)
Major semi: Hanwood v Lake Albert at Rawlings Park no.1
Elimination semi: Henwood Park v Leeton at Rawlings Park no.4
LEONARD CUP (Both games 11am)
Major semi: Hanwood v Tolland at Rawlings Park no.1
Elimination final: Junee v Henwood Park at Rawlings Park no.4
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