Remarkably - or devastatingly if you're with Griffith - 'Gullie's last three grand final wins have all denied the Swans a reserve grade title.

Collingullie-GP coach Ryan Dean was part of their 2015 success and, after three years at North Wagga, is back at his old club and itching to continue the success.

The Swans went through the home-and-away season undefeated only for Dean's Demons to knock them over in the second semi-final and qualify for a fifth decider in seven years (they beat Mangoplah-CUE in 2013, before the wins against Griffith in 2015, 2017 and 2018).

"It's just a credit to the club, being able to retain people and just maintain the overall strength of the club," Dean said.

"I certainly am proud of the playing group. I think anyone could've coached these boys to a grand final."

Dean took over from Kal Sykes, who had the ultimate grand final day last year, coaching the twos to victory and winning a senior flag straight afterwards.

Sykes retired from senior football to play reserve grade and won the Frank Gaynor Medal this year as league best-and-fairest.

While midfielder Luke Powell was best on ground in last year's grand final, when the Demons completed an unbeaten season.

They'll be among the key figures against a Swans side desperate to break through and take reward for their consistency.

But Collingullie-GP have consistently had their measure, including denying Griffith their own undefeated premiership in 2017.

"That's what it comes down to, the guys that have senior experience have stuck around," Dean said.

"It's helped me out and helped a lot of our younger kids coming up through the ranks. We're playing better footy and we've got as many leaders on the ground as you could have."

Dean has played in six grand finals for Collingullie, winning two out of four senior deciders, and claiming two premierships from two reserve grade appearances.

He said since taking the step back from first grade a couple of years ago he's enjoying his football. Dean leads the Demons' goalkicking this year (32 goals) and was also in contention for the league medal.

Collingullie-GP have had a spread of targets up forward, with Dylan Koop (31 goals), Matt Geppert (29), Powell (26) and Sykes (19) also in the league's top dozen.

"On field, we've been pretty successful but it has been challenging at times with player availability and injuries for us and first grade. I've been battling for numbers. I've probably used about 40 players," Dean said.

He said urgency and pressure helped his side out-hunt Griffith in the semi-final but expects the Swans to pose a formidable challenge in the return meeting.

"They certainly do. They had a convincing win over Coolamon last week," Dean said.

"It's probably going to come down to the midfield. If we can get clean ball out of the middle, and hopefully Tommy (Keogh) can get on top in the ruck there, we can get some good ball down to our forwards."

Keogh was injured in the pre-season and then concentrated on reserve grade, playing just four games of seniors.

Dean said watching North Wagga win the Farrer League premiership last week, led by his old coach Kirk Hamblin in his final season as coach, was an inspirational start to grand final week.