NORTH Wagga forward Skye Davey lived out every footballer's after her after-the-siren goal handed the Saints an epic preliminary final win over Collingullie-Glenfield Park on Friday night.
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With scores locked up Davey marked the ball around 50 metres out and delivered a superb kick under pressure to book a grand final berth with a 3.2 (20) to 2.2 (14) victory.
The Demons, coming off an upset win over East Wagga Kooringal, threatened to cause another boilover, but last year's grand finalists held their nerve when it counted.
North Wagga will enter this Friday's grand final as underdogs against Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong, who beat an undermanned Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlake 118-13 in the other preliminary final.
Saints coach Brayden Skeers said they were fortunate to advance after a tough encounter, but said his leaders stepped up to drag them over the line.
"Skye nailed her kick, it went through about halfway up the posts," Skeer said.
"It was an absolute contest the whole game and we were very lucky to scrape through.
"Before we had our debrief I listened in to their coach and offered my commiserations, and congratulated them on how they played.
"They really gave it to us. We were pretty nervous the whole game because they were relentless and gave us a huge challenge."
Skeers said Mel Hyland was vital across half-back, including playing a crucial role in the lead-up to the match-winning goal.
"Mel Hyland was best on ground by a long shot, she played on half back and was really instrumental in repelling their entries and was the main catalyst of our last goal," Skeers siad.
"With a minute to go they (Demons) got a forward entry, she was three-on-one and paddled it along and desperately kicked it forward ,and that created our chance to score.
"Her poise under pressure was immense, and Skye got the kick when it counted."
While the Saints will need to be at their best to press the unbeaten Lions, they do boast an advantage in grand final experience given some of their players featured in last year's narrow loss to CSU.
"I think it (grand final experience) will be really important," he said.
"We've got a number of girls who were in that really tight loss last year. There's a chance to take care of some unfinished business and that will motivate some of our leaders like Sarah Harmer, Kelsey Leaver and Mel Hyland, those girls who have played here for a couple of years.
"They'll want to tie up those loose ends of not getting the choccies last year."
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Skeers said they will look to make the grand final a tight and physical contested against the fleet-footed Lions.
"We want to keep it really basic and play our style of footy, which is being first to it and working together to get it moving forward," Skeers said.
"Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong are super quick and organised, and for us it will be a matter of making it a contested game.
"They'll enjoy having the ball out in space, and we benefit from having a tight contest. We'll definitely work to creating that style of game if we can.
"We'll emphasis to the girls it's not every day you get to play in a grand final.
"Sarah Harmer, Milli Gentle and Georgia Beard all lifted in the midfield (in the preliminary final). That gave us that contested style we like, and it was just enough in the end."
The time and venue for Friday night's AFL Southern NSW Women's grand final clash is yet to be officially confirmed.
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