IT would be understandable if Great Western's reserves and senior players were jangling bunches of nerves ahead of Saturday's grand final.
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But instead, they are staying calm, grounded, and focusing on what has worked for them all season.
The sides will have a shot at the Mininera League premiership when they go up against Penshurst in the seniors and SMW Rovers in the reserves on Saturday.
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Reserves coach Matt Delzotto said at this stage preparation was emotional and mental has much as it was physical.
"It's about the fact you've still got a game of footy to play and you're going to have to play well to win it," he said. "The focus can't be on the result, the focus has to be on the process.
"If we stick to our plan and how we've played our footy all year, we have every chance to win.
"That's really what it's going to boil down to on Saturday - the sooner we settle into it and remember that it is a game of footy and we're going to have to do well to win, the better off we'll be."
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Delzotto said it was about taking it a day at a time.
"You can overthink a big game like a grand final and play it in your head a million times before you get out on the ground, and that can burn a lot of energy before you've even set foot on the field," he said.
Senior player Shannon Notting said he was starting to get "a bit nervous and a bit excited."
"It's a bit of the unknown," he said.
Notting has played one senior final before and been with the club 17 years.
"It's all new to us - it's good," he said. "I'm just training the same as normal and taking it the same as every week really - just trying to keep the nerves down, a bit of fluids, eat right, and that's about it."
Friday night dinner will be "the usual", Notting said.
"I'll probably just have the usual pizza."
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Notting said he expects a physical match.
"Hopefully we can run them off their legs a bit and hopefully we're quicker on the outside," he said. "We'll get the contested ball as well so with a bit of luck we'll get the conditions right and run them off their feet."
Seniors coach William Bell is in his third year coaching with the club and said it had taken a lot of "hard work" to make it to this week.
"When I first started coaching only seven players showed up," he said.
The club started to turn things around, and Bell said then "we had recruits come in the door and it just started piling up."
The club has since gained momentum and Bell said it now has a group that "could possibly win the grand final on Saturday."
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