by Nicholas Duck

It all comes down to this. Finally, after nearly three years of COVID-related uncertainty, 18 rounds of footy and three weeks of finals, the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition will anoint a new premier this Saturday.
It's taken a lot of hard work by a lot of different people to get to this point, but everything is set up for a blockbuster game at Garfield. The two sides involved have been in position one and two for almost the entirety of this season, meaning this will truly be a clash of the best that the competition has to offer.
Tooradin-Dalmore have been the near undisputed best team in it for much of the year, finishing top of the table with just the one loss to their name. They looked like they might even go through the year undefeated, if not for that late-season blemish.
The Seagulls have left everyone in their wake this season, with smart recruitment and a solid development program leaving them with arguably the most talented list in the league. The addition of former-Collingwood premiership player Brent Macaffer has particularly proved fruitful, with Macaffer taking home the league best and fairest award last week.
Led by captain Jordan Kelly and coach Lachie Gillespie, the club now stands on the precipice of greatness, 25 years after their last premiership. It's been a long and winding road for the Seagulls, who have been among the contenders every year since joining the league without ever being able to capture the big prize.
The higher-ups at the club have made no secret of their plans for the direction of the organisation, where they have explicitly said there was a five-year plan to play a grand final within three years and win one within five. No doubt making the decider this year has them ahead of schedule, and if they are able to claim the cup their five-year plan suddenly turns into a 12-month one.
On the other side of things is a side that has been no stranger to success in recent times. Since the competition's inception in 2017, Phillip Island has been the side to fear, winning the premiership in two of the league's three completed seasons and finishing top of the table in 2021 before the season was cruelly cut short. In 2019 they even managed to win the flag without suffering a single defeat all year, such was their dominance.
It's been a bit of a different story for the Bulldogs this season, however. They have still clearly been one of the competition's best teams, but the air of invincibility that once surrounded them has slipped just a hair.
The Bulldogs lost just two games throughout the year, but the manner in which they were dispatched with in week one of the finals by Tooradin-Dalmore means that they will be coming into a grand final as the clear underdog. This is brand new territory for many players in the side, who will be used to be the overwhelming favourite in just about any match they play.
Adding to the feeling that they're facing an uphill battle is the fact that they were mere seconds away from having their year ended last week. No doubt their stunning after the siren in extra time win against the Warragul Industrials was the stuff of legends, but to almost have fallen to the side that finished the year in sixth leaves them appearing much more vulnerable than in years gone by.
Still, if there's one thing this club has proven time and time again it's that when the big moments come, their players stand up. They've been here before and once that first ball is bounced, that experience may just give them an edge.
It must be remembered that Phillip Island were the one side to defeat Tooradin-Dalmore this year, though this was with the benefit of playing it at their home fortress in Cowes. Without that advantage, they're going to have to find a different way to get the job done if they want to continue their era of league dominance.
Fans should be in for a treat either way, but now that we're down to two just one question remains: who's going to claim premiership glory?