Osborne will head into Saturday's under 17.5s grand final with the confidence of a winning team and the wisdom of a beaten one as they size up Leeton-Whitton in the premiership decider.
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The Ostriches were unbeaten through the home-and-away season before losing to the Crows by four points in their semi-final.
That knocked out any complacency and, after their recovery to beat Turvey Park by six goals last week, coach Jamie Parr is comfortable they're in a good space.
"I think it was good, it finally made the boys realise that nothing easy is worth doing and you've got to actually work for it," Parr said.
"You learn a lot from a loss, more than you do from a win."
At the same time, Parr's main message will be to trust their ability and teammates.
"Stick to what we've been doing, it's obviously worked, and that's to use the numbers up," he said.
"Young kids, all they want to do is try and bust tackles and what-not, so the smart thing is to give and go again, carry it, and pull the trigger through the middle too."
Luke Fellows up forward and Jeremy Piercy in the middle led Osborne to the preliminary final win while key defender, Royce Hunter, has been outstanding all season.
"The last couple of years he's played a few first grade games as a 15, 16-year-old. He's been our general down back. He's been very solid," Parr said.
Harry Wichmann, on a wing, has also been particularly consistent while the return of Ethan Weidemann from seniors to the other wing is a big finals boost.
"We had the chance to get him back last round but, looking to the future I thought there's no point bringing him back to 17s for one last game, let him stay up there and get used to first grade because that's his next step," Parr said.
The Crows will be a fierce opposition, hard around the contest and with good structure. Parr said they set up very well across half-back which was where they got on top of Osborne in the semi-final.
The prospect of a football flag for Osborne, in the most unusual of seasons, would be an almighty reward for a club that was desperate to play this season. Just featuring on grand final day in the AFL Riveirna Championship is already cause for celebration.
"It's a fantastic outcome, considering three months ago we didn't even think we were going to play football. So to be able to face off in a granny is pretty good. It's exceptional I reckon," Parr said.
The Under 17.5 grand final is at 9.30am on Saturday at Robertson Oval.
