WHITTLESEA marched straight into the Northern Football League (NFL) Division Two preliminary final with a confidence building semi final victory against Epping on Saturday, which broke a finals hoodoo that ran nearly a decade long.

Eagles’ coach Peter Bugden said it was a deserving reward for a club side, which has worked hard this season and tasted heartache in the finals over the past few years.

“It is our first final we’ve won in nine years,” he said.

“We have been out in straight sets the last few times. It was a bit of a reward for the boys after a few years hard work.”

The Whittlesea side, without key component Evan Murray, was forced to adapt but the performance of big man Jeremy Page helped plug the gaps.

“We were very good forward and back, the midfield too, I couldn’t fault any of the areas.

“We lost our big centre half forward (Murray) who has kicked 50 odd goals for us this year.

“He didn’t play round 18 and didn’t play in the final. We had to sacrifice our number on ruckman Jeremy Page who went to centre half forward.”

Page was named best on ground for the Eagles with Matt Dornauf, Josh Nixon, Nick Snowdown, Jason Buhagiar and Travis Stevens also performing.

The Eagles’ goal kickers were spread with Nixon top scoring with six, followed by Dornauf (five), Buhagiar (four) and Page and captain Garrett Heenan with two apiece.

The match, played at Eltham Rec Reserve, saw Epping jump out of the gates early but the Eagles’ tireless work kept them in the game and by halftime they were looking the goods.

“They kicked the first couple of goals of the game and we worked consistently,” Bugden said.

“Our work ethic was high throughout the course of the whole game.

“But the defining moment for me was at halftime; we knew they were going to come out hard in the third quarter and for us to put the first three or four goals on the board was impressive.”

But the Eagles had victory in sight and charged home to rack up an important victory for both the team and club.

They now face the winner of Sunday’s semi-final between Macleod and Diamond Creek (scores unavailable at time of print) in a Preliminary Final clash on Sunday.

Bugden conceded both sides would be hard to knock off but knew his charges would not leave anything out on the park after the match.

“Macleod have obviously been in the last four grand finals. It will definitely be tough to beat them in a preliminary final and Diamond Creek are a first division club who have a history of performing in first division finals.

“But no matter what I know our boys will do their best. We know we are going through a change of culture at the club. There is an expectation wether we win or lose we really come out and have a go every week.”

In other Saturday results, Mernda was too strong for Epping in the Division Two Reserves taking the match 21.8.134 to 4.12.36, while Whittlesea’s Division Two Under 19s knocked off Lower Plenty 11.6.72 to 8.9.57.