The sun was beaming down at Rupanyup on Saturday, but there weren't too many shining moments from the Baggies' camp.

Level at quarter time, the Baggies were caught napping while game structures were falling down.

Going in at half-time with a three-point deficit, co-coach Daniel Parkin told his charges the third quarter could be a 10 goal quarter if they wanted it.

The plan didn't go the Baggies way, outscored three goals to four in the third term.

During the three quarter time break, Rupanyup's coach Jack Musgrove asked his players for one more quarter of football for the year.

"We couldn't have had a better three quarters to start the game," he said.

"Now is the time to put the icing on the cake and finish them off.

"It's going to be hard work. You have to be mentally strong to finish off this game of footy."

Musgrove asked his players to play a tight defence.

"Do not let your man get a metre on you because you're tired," he said.

The Rupanyup players followed instruction and secured a 23-point win with no rotations left on the bench.

A winning tribute to lifelong Rupanyup footballer Paul Trotter who played his 300th senior game.

After the game, Swifts' co-coach Scott Carey said the players were "reactive" to Rupanyup's pressure and game style.

"We didn't play the game on our terms," he said.

"Unfortunately when you come to someone's home ground and they put that much pressure on you, we just went to water."

Players could be heard discussing the game between themselves on the ground. Carey said the team let themselves down by not focusing on the task.

"We didn't have the mental strength to decide we wanted to play football," he said.

"We spoke during the week and before the game about how this game would be a building block to finals.

"I've put the performance down to the players thinking about finals and maybe not enough about this week."

Carey praised the efforts of full backman Todd Matthews for his performance during the game and Zach Salmi with his contribution of five goals.

"Too few ball movers and too many passengers this week," he said.

Swifts will take on Noradjuha-Quantong in the second elimination final on Sunday.

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday morning from the Stawell Times-News. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the Northern Grampians shire, sign up here.