Thanks to an upset last round result, the Cootamundra Blues have managed to hold onto fourth place and will feature in this years AFL Canberra Division 3 finals series.
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Going into the game sitting fourth on percentage and with a last round bye, the Blues destiny was out of their hands.
With the Ainslie Saints sitting above them and the Googong Hogs breathing down their neck in fifth the Blues faced a nervous wait.
With Ainslie facing a Molonglo Juggernauts side that had only tasted success once this season, it appeared that only a Googong loss would ensure the Blues feature at the business end of the season.
When the Hogs managed to comfortably defeat Belconnen and in the process secure third spot, all hope of a finals appearance seemed lost.
But a surprise 7 point win to Molonglo had the Blues statisticians working overtime to calculate Ainslie's new percentage.
The result came up in Cootamundra's favour by a tiny 2 per cent margin meaning the Blues had their miracle result and had snuck into finals.
The result sets the strange for a tantalising rematch with Googong.
Meeting back in round one, the Blues were firmly in control of the contest, leading by 25 points with just 15 minutes to go in the game.
However, a late game collapse and a goal after the siren saw the Blues go down by 6 points.
The brain fade almost cost the Blues the chance to feature in the finals and has haunted them all season, but they will be determined to make up for the disappointing performance now that they have the opportunity.For first year coach Joe Scott, making finals has always been the goal.
"Getting the club into finals footy was a challenge I set myself when I accepted the job.
"COVID has certainly made things difficult but it's a great achievement to make the finals with such a disjointed season".
With plenty of big game experience under his belt, Scott is keen to pass on the knowledge to his troops.
"Hopefully I can bring my own finals experience to the club and help some of the young blokes get their minds and games right for the big week ahead".
The side will look dramatically different to the one that took the field back in round one.
Star key defender Will Reinhold, multiple best and fairest winner Dylan McDermott and gun key forward Brenton Roberts were all missing that day.
"Our lineup is relatively settled now and hopefully we've all learnt how each other's strengths so we can play better as a side" said Scott.
"I'm confident that we've learnt from our past mistakes and will make amends this weekend".
The Blues selection committee have a few long nights ahead of them this week as they sweat on some key inclusions.
Heading the list of question marks is star midfielder and Blues co-captain Phil Bird. Bird is still in Sydney as he and wife Pippa await the arrival of their first child.
Cootamundra are also hoping that key defender Dylan Pumpa will be available for selection after being missing since round 2.
Pumpa's recovery has been a slow process but the Blues played the long game in the hopes of having their dashing backman healthy for a potential finals appearance.
Gun on-baller Andrew Saddler and dangerous small forward Baz Savanah are also potential outs depending on what day the game is played.
The game is currently scheduled to be played this Sunday, 20th September at Rockley Oval.
The Blues are enquiring as to whether they can move the game forward to Saturday but a decision is yet to be made.
First bounce is scheduled for 2:30pm.
