Doon Dogs coach Tony Cooksey said his side had nothing to lose this weekend after already exceeding its own expectations in its first season in the Ovens and King.

“The first year in a new league is about being competitive and earning respect, and I think we’ve done that,” Cooksey said.

“We knew we had a pretty good list, but we didn’t really know what we were getting in for, so I guess you could say we’ve exceeded our expectations.

“The pressure is all on Tarrawingee because they’re meant to win and try to go one better than last year.”

But while Cooksey believed Bonnie Doon’s preliminary final berth was a pleasant surprise, Tarrawingee coach Mick Wilson believed the Doon Dogs’ semi-final win against Benalla All Blacks gives them an edge this week.

“Momentum is a huge thing in football, we all know that, and Bonnie Doon has a lot of momentum going at the moment,” Wilson said.

“Yes, we have to stop it, but one of the best ways to slow momentum is to create momentum.

“We’ve got to be up and about and be full of energy because we saw Bonnie Doon play last week and they’re travelling very well.”

Wilson expected the desire to make amends for last year’s narrow grand final loss to Milawa would give Tarrawingee plenty of motivation to create its own energy.

“I think there’s a bit of anger about what happened last year,” Wilson said.

“We haven’t talked about it at all but I think losing last year’s grand final probably still eats away a little bit at the 14 or so guys who played, so that should provide plenty of internal motivation.”

Tarrawingee is likely to make two key inclusions with wingman Jaden Allan and rebounding defender Aaron Vihm set to come back into the side.

Allan was best on ground when Tarrawingee beat a fast-finishing Bonnie Doon by three points in round 13.

Doon Dogs forward Chris Anderson, who was among Bonnie Doon’s best players that day, is a 50-50 chance to return from a hamstring strain this week.

Meanwhile, defending premier Milawa will clash with minor premier Bright in Saturday’s preliminary final at Tarrawingee.

The Mountain Men’s light-bodied youngsters weren’t favoured by the wet conditions when they were comprehensively outplayed by Tarrawingee in their qualifying final and will be hoping the Tarrawingee ground doesn’t cop too much rain this week.