Turvey Park defender Darcy Irvine is unlikely to play in the Riverina League grand final

Irvine left the field in the opening term in the preliminary final and then took no further part in the contest reducing the Bulldogs to just three players on the bench.

Bulldogs coach Michael Mazzocchi believed Irvine had potentially done a fair bit of damage to his ankle and was unlikely to play in the decider on Saturday.

"He was in a marking contest and came down pretty heavily on that ankle," Mazzocchi said.

"That was really disappointing and he came off pretty sore, he was pretty upset and I think it's a pretty serious injury.

"That's been the story of our finals, the footy gods just haven't been quite smiling on us but the guts and determination dragged us across the line there.

"We'll regroup and we've got a bit of depth in the seconds so we'll have a look at that and go again."

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The Bulldogs were able to overcome the loss of Irvine to overrun Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong in a thrilling preliminary final which saw them kick six goals to one in a dominant final term.

Mazzocchi revealed there was no secret message at three quarter time and that he simply told his side to keep fighting until the final siren.

"The whole message was just to go down swinging," he said.

"We didn't do anything defensive, we were all out attack in that last quarter.

"It was literally just every time we got the footy to just swing it, handball it or kick it wide just to get it into open space.

"We were just going to basically try and take every risk we could just to see if it came off and it was one of those days where it did come off.

"We were really lucky there."

The result topped off a terrific day for the club as all three football sides won their respective preliminary finals to secure their spot in the grand finals this weekend at Narrandera Sportsground.

Mazzocchi said he was immensely proud of the achievement and believed the club had come a long way in a relatively short period of time.

"I'm obviously really proud of the whole club," he said.

"To have all three football teams and we've got some netball in the grand final as well.

"To be head coach of a club and we can sit back and say that we are the strongest club in the RFL from where we come from when they nearly folded seven or eight years ago.

"Now to have so many strong teams and be represented in every grade I'm immensely proud to be a leader of a club that's definitely heading in the right direction."

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