LAKE Albert coach Mitch Tinnock has been lucky enough to feature in plenty of Pascoe Cup grand finals, but reckons Sunday's decider against Hanwood will be the most fiery yet.
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And he said overcoming the challenge presented by the Griffith newcomers would be their biggest accomplishment, even eclipsing last year's unbeaten season.
The Sharks will look to create history by winning all three men's grades at Equex Centre, with reserve grade to also play Hanwood and third grade to take on Young.
"We're pretty excited about it. At the start of the year we thought we had a pretty good squad in each grade and I don't know the last time Lake Albert's won three grades in a row, to win them all would be an incredible achievement for the club and something we'd all be really proud of," Tinnock said.
"It's an exciting time at Sharkies training at the moment,everybody's pumped up.
"It just adds even more to that (Hanwood) rivalry. It was already big enough during the regular season, it got even bigger the second week of finals (when Hanwood won 1-0 to qualify for the grand final) and now it's just going to go through the roof.
"It's going to be a big day against them and it's definitely developing into a very strong rivalry, even though it's the first season."
Tinnock said they were fully aware a strong Hanwood outfit entering the competition would make their premiership defence much tougher, but said it would make a potential victory on Sunday sweeter.
"We're not stupid, we knew it would make our premiership defence a bit more difficult with them coming in," Tinnock said.
"At the end of the day they do raise the level of the competition, they do provide a healthy club that's going to stick around forever.
"If we were to win this year it would probably be our biggest achievement."
Tinnock expects there to be no holds barred on Sunday as both teams continue a rivalry that, while built on mutual respect, is more than willing.
"It's been very chippy, there's never a dull moment playing against them. There's always lots of verbals going on on the pitch," Tinnock said.
"It does get pretty heated and their supporters are extremely rowdy. It translates from verbal to physical with them.
"It's going to be the most fiery one (grand final) we've played, I feel like it's ready to explode to be honest. The rivalry's really heating up."
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