<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Foul Bay will take on Darraweit Guim in the ORFFA grand final next weekend after both teams emerged victorious from their preliminary finals.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]As the Chickens and Dirigibles put in place their preparations for the big one, we can have a look at how both teams won through to the final weekend of the season.
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<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Foul Bay 1444 d Powlett Plains 1218
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Best Foul Bay: Stokes, Selwood, Dangerfield, Kelly, Pavlich.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Best Powlett Plains: N Riewoldt, Franklin, Boyd, K Cornes.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Some damaging mid-game scoring from a series of Foul Bay players set up the Chickens' comfortable 226-point preliminary final win over the Powlett Plains Packers.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]The Packers started brightly with useful contributions from Grundy, O'Brien and Ball (prior to injury).
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Franklin (116) and Hodge continued the good work for Powlett Plains and it was initially Foul Bay on the backfoot - especially given Josh Thomas' great form was in vain in the reserves.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Only Jarryd Roughead (108) stood tall in the early going for Foul Bay as the Packers built a handy base from which to launch their attack.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]But the Chickens regrouped with a stunning mid game turnaround led by Stokes (141), Selwood (131), Dangerfield (115), Kelly (115) and Pavlich (114).
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]These scores, along with totals of 85+ from Mumford, Johnson and Bartel, saw Foul Bay overcome an injury to midfielder McLean (15) and establish a sizeable advantage going into the final stages of the match.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Kane Cornes (96) fought a brave but virtually single-handed rearguard action for the Packers, with Melksham (27 OOP) unable to total a sizeable score while being played out of position, and Henderson (53) well held.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Late game heroics from Riewoldt (155 and the game high score) and Boyd (107), kept alive a flicker of hope for Powlett Plains; however Liberatore (112), Harwood (85) and Dahlhaus (111) quelled the fightback and helped seal Foul Bay's grand final berth.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]The Chickens will now look to make it back-to-back ORFFA titles this coming weekend, while the Packers will walk away with heads held high after their mid-season list overhaul.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]One would think the Packers will again be busy in the coming post-season trade period, and have a suite of good young talls to base trade talks - or 2014 efforts - on.
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<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Darraweit Guim 1312 d Birdsville 1308
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Best: Darraweit Guim: Maric, Seedsman, Vickery, Harvey, Walters.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Best Birdsville: Z Clarke, Houli, Wells, McEvoy.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]A pulsating match in the best traditions of hard-fought finals games has seen Darraweit Guim emerge as Foul Bay's grand final opponents with a nailbiting four-point win over the Birdsville Battlers.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]In a game of constantly swinging fortunes, neither team was able to open up a sizeable advantage for very long, with luck, match-ups and injuries all playing a role.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Darraweit Guim enjoyed some good fortune early in the game, with last minute inclusion Paul Seedsman (126) repaying the Dirigibles' decision to pick him up in the mid-season draft. Birdsville's Travis Cloke (96) kept pace with Seedsman to have the match stay close.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]The teams traded blows through the middle section of the game - the Blimps' Harvey (115), Cunnington (93), Westhoff (97), Otten (82) and Walters (109) trying to match it with the Battlers' Laird (88), Murphy (98), Ebert (75), Mayne (81) and Wells (104).
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]However Zac Clarke's superb 134 for Birdsville, combined with the late withdrawal of Darraweit Guim veteran Andrew Walker, gave the Battlers a narrow lead going into the halftime break.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]Youngster Jack Newnes (52) was thrust into the fray with Walker's withdrawal and worked hard, but was unable to stem the flow of points for the Battlers' Geary (94) and McEvoy (102).
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]And with the news Darraweit's Nathan Foley (32) would only serve as sub, the match swayed back in Birdsville's favour. Despite big games from Dirigibles' captain Maric (134), Vickery (117) and Rance (108), the Battlers' Houli (113) and Treloar (77) kept pace.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]This meant Birdsville's two Daniels - Rich and Merrett - only needed around 140 points to seal the win.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]The pair scored 90 points in double quick time and looked set for big scores when things went awry. Merrett (71) was injured and Rich (64) blanketed and when the final totalling was done Birdsville had fallen four points short.
<p style='margin-bottom: 6pt;]While Darraweit will celebrate an unexpected grand final berth from seventh on the ladder, Birdsville will look towards 2014 with healthy expectations given recent recruiting and the relative youth of their line-up.