Portland's Toby Jennings ready to tackle the club's first Hampden league finals appearance

The Tigers' make their maiden Hampden league finals appearance on Sunday in an elimination final against Warrnambool. It is the club's first since crossing from the Western Border league in 2013.

Jennings said it felt good to reach an elusive finals berth after being denied the chance last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

"As a club it was a huge goal (making finals) coming into this league," he said. "We've always been told from the outside, we didn't have the numbers or talent in the town to match it with the Warrnambool sides.

"To be able to finally prove that, that we've got the talent and the numbers to back it up is really good."

Jennings, 20, said the buzz around Portland itself had grown throughout the season.

"Even at the start of the year we had a couple doubters, then started the year on fire," the explosive midfielder said. "You could just see the amount of people in the crowd, when we kept having a win, just grow and grow."

Portland was on track to break into its first final series in 2021, finishing fifth before the season was cut short. Jennings believes the disappointment of missing out spurred his teammates on.

"We've felt we could get back there (finals) and felt unrewarded last year," he said. "It's good to continue that form and get back there."

The Tigers will need to shed a rough patch of form when they meet Warrnambool at Port Fairy on Sunday, after losing five of their last six games.

Undefeated through the first seven rounds, Portland's dip included losses to bottom five club's Camperdown and Terang Mortlake.

"Towards the end... we might have got a bit comfortable with where we were at," Jennings said.

The apprentice sign writer felt the tide turn in the Tigers' final two home-and-away losses against Koroit and South Warrnambool.

"I think we matched them for a few quarters," he said of the top two clubs. "Last week against South we probably just didn't finish the game off."

Jennings, whose father Mick is Portland's football games record-holder, has put together a strong body of work this year.

In his team's best in 11 of 18 games, and kicking 24 goals, Jennings' priority has been to play his role and learn off experienced midfielders around him.

"Jacko (captain Daniel Jackson), he's had a pretty outstanding season," Jennings said. "With him in the midfield it makes my job easy. He directs a lot of the traffic in there.

"And also Benny Malcolm, our ruck man, he's a big voice in there."

Portland come into Sunday's final with a 2-0 season record against Warrnambool, including an 123-point victory in round 10. But Jennings believes both sides will match up similarly on the ground.

"I think it will be a quick, fast-paced game," he said. "We beat them by a bit last time, but they've built some form since then. I think it will be a pretty close game."

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