FEDERAL turned in one of its best performances of the season to blitz rivals Corryong by 63 points in the preliminary final at Corryong on Saturday.
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With the exception of a lapse in the third quarter, the Swans dominated the tussle to gain confidence for this weekend’s grand final against undefeated Bullioh.
The experienced Daniel Hales was best afield floating across half-back while ruckman Steve Bradshaw continued his fine form.
“It was a really good effort by the boys,” coach Gerard Midson said.
“I thought everyone played a role.
“We had a lull in the third quarter when they kicked six goals in a 10-minute spurt but hopefully we will learn from that.
“You are never going to control good opposition for a full game and I thought we held our composure and finished off really well.”
Corryong sorely missed midfielder Matt McNamara and were dealt another blow when Tom Nicholas was forced from the field through injury.
Coach Evan Nicholas threw dangerous forward Nathan Grimes into the ruck in a bid to trigger a revival but the Swans always had the answers through sheer weight of numbers.
Mitch Paton and Tim Seymour bagged five goals each and big Keiran Brennan lent good support with three.
Cameron Sheather, Dylan Haycraft, Andrew Saliba and John Fahey also played key roles.
Corryong were best served by Grimes, Mitchell Harris, Jayden Pryse, Daniel Bates, John Anderson and Evan Nicholas.
Federal lost Jimmy Scannell early with a hamstring twinge but the Swans are confident of regaining Jordan Wilson and Cam Tyrell from injury.
“We’re hoping to have a full list to choose from,” Midson said.
“We will go into the grand final after last week knowing that we can compete but we need to be better for longer.
“Bullioh’s a good side and we really need to concentrate for four quarters.”
It will be Federal’s first grand final appearance since it defeated Corryong by three points in the 2016 decider.
In the reserves preliminary final, Cudgewa defeated Tumbarumba and Federal edged out the Roos by a point in the under-13s.
Bullioh will host Saturday’s senior grand final against Federal.
The Bulldogs take on Cudgewa in the reserves and Bullioh and Federal will lock horns in the under-13s at 11.20am.
