Sunbury United Tigers have won through to the NRL Vic first grade division grand final.
After losing their semi-final to the Werribee Bears, the Tigers bounced back against Casey Warriors on Saturday.
They got the jump early and maintained the lead all day, winning 30-20.
Tigers coach Terry Constantinou said they had a few nerves heading into the game, but in the end they had nothing to worry about.
“The boys did really well,” he said.
“I was a little bit worried as they got a bit of a shock last week playing finals football.
“[But] We scored three tries early and led 20-4 at half-time [on Saturday]. A couple of our marquee players had really great games.”
The Warriors hit back in the second and reduced the margin to four points.
Constantinou was thrilled with how his team was able to dig deep when challenged.
“We said there would always be a momentum shift. We had to defend with passion.
“We had to reset and were able to score again.”
The win sets up a grand final showdown with the Werribee Bears, at Werribee’s home ground on Saturday afternoon.
Constantinou said they had learnt a lot from their previous losses to the Bears.
“We didn’t just finish second by pure luck,” he said.
“When we beat them we really beat them and when we’ve lost to them, we’ve just lost.
“They haven’t been able to get away from us. We only need to work on a few areas.”
