The Wanderers will take place in their first ever senior grand final on Sunday when they take on Yoogali in a Riverina derby decider at Canberra's Deakin Stadium.

It has been a fairytale season of sorts for the Wanderers, rising from last year's sixth-placed finish to make finals for the first time, then downing Queanbeyan in an extra-time thriller last Sunday to progress to the decider.

Menser been a key figure in the club's rise, joining new coach Michael Babic as his playing assistant after two premierships in Football Wagga's Pascoe Cup competition.

The 36-year-old is no stranger to Capital Football's NPL competition, or higher levels of soccer, but concedes it would mean a great deal if he could help the Wanderers to a maiden premiership on Sunday.

"I think, for me, it would just be a proud moment, I guess," Menser said.

"There's a lot of young boys who hadn't played in the first team for a full year before and to be that older person with a lot of young boys and be involved with some of these boys when they're just starting it, it would be a great moment for us.

"To be part of a first trophy, too. I've played at plenty of clubs where we've won trophies but to be at a club that's five, six years old and never won a title before, I think that's something that I would be really proud to be part of that.

"I don't think if anything the club would have expected it (this year), and no one in Wagga expects it either, or would have expected it."

Menser guided Henwood Park to the 2017 Pascoe Cup premiership, a year after he was part of Babic's Lake Albert team that won the title.

He believes the young talent at Wanderers goes largely underappreciated by the wider soccer community.

"They don't get respected. I don't think even in the local scene, I don't think anyone realises how good some of these young players are and they probably don't respect the result that they've been able to achieve with these young kids but it's a big mark," he said."If we can get a title, that can only do good things for football in Wagga. That's the ultimate goal in the end, for football in Wagga to grow and be bigger for when my kids are old enough to play soccer at a higher level."

The Wanderers will go into Sunday's final as underdog after Yoogali beat them 3-1 in Griffith in early September.

But the role of underdog is one the Wanderers don't mind.

"I think we can (win). The hard thing with a short season and only playing everyone once, we hadn't really seen them before so now we've seen them we can set ourselves out to play," he said.

"If anything, losing to them probably works in our favour anyway, they comfortably beat us when we went over there so I imagine they'll be confident, which is good for us."

Menser has enjoyed his first season at the Wanderers.

"I've been able to just go and play and add whatever I can add. I've enjoyed it, playing a lot of minutes," he said.

"I coached last year and didn't play a lot of minutes. This year I've been able to play a lot of minutes and Mick's great with me, so I've enjoyed it. That was part of it, just to play and not worry about what game decisions I had to make while I was playing.

"I'll be honest, I think it's turned out better than either of us hoped for the year. While we set our targets on top two, I think realistically had we thought we were going to be playing in a grand final this time last year when we first discussed the Wanderers, I don't think we would have thought we would be in a grand final 12 months later."

And as for the possibility of the grand final being Mesner's final game, he hopes he has another season left in him.

"I haven't given it much thought to be honest," he said.

"After 120 minutes of football last weekend, maybe my body was telling me it wasn't a good idea but I've enjoyed playing. I still enjoy playing. I'll be kicking around somewhere."

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