Dennington to take on mighty Russells Creek for spot in Warrnambool and District division one grand final

Shannon Beks' side, sky-high with momentum after the qualifying final thriller against Allansford-Panmure, have one thing on their minds come 12.30pm - to knock the undefeated reigning premiers off what seemingly has felt like an impenetrable perch for the best part of half a decade.

While the task at hand will be a tricky one at Merrivale Oval, the Dogs, as they have been all season, are up for the fight against an opponent who are chasing their fifth flag in six years.

"Everyone's pretty keen to get stuck into it, we're really excited as a group," Beks told The Standard.

"We played them early in the year, they had us under the pump early but we fought back and nearly beat them.

"We know they're a really good side and they'll take a fair bit of beating but we can't worry about that.

"We'll worry about what we do and the rest will take care of itself. If we worry too much about the opposition we'll be going away from what makes us a good team."

The Dogs leader - who snared 3-16 in the last-over thriller against the Gators - said the group had genuine belief it could adapt to any scenario on the field.

"We haven't had heaps of close wins like that (against Allansford-Panmure), so it does (gives us confidence)," he said.

"If we get into a tight situation we believe we can do it again and in a final there's a fair amount more pressure, so the boys will be better for it."

He added against a quality Creekers bowling outfit featuring Joe Kenna, Matt Petherick, Matt Worsnop, Shiwantha Kumara, Blake Evans and Craig Britten there would need to be a collective lift from the batting group, but said his group had the attack to defend anything.

The Dogs have been snarling with ball in hand this season, particularly paceman Xavier Beks, who has snared 27 wickets in a brilliant campaign with the new-ball.

"We'd definitely like more runs at the top-of-the-order," he said.

"But our bowling is definitely our strength, we're really confident with what we've got.

"If we can get ourselves to a competitive total if we do bat first I'll back in our bowlers do the job and put them under a lot of pressure, but we would like a few more runs.

"We won last week but we're far from finished. We've still got a fair bit of improving in our game to do I reckon.

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