The grand finals will be hosted by Hillston tomorrow.
The women’s match will take place at 1.30pm tomorrow, with the men’s teams facing off from 3pm.
The match-ups bring to an end a season which saw the Deniliquin Blue Heelers reform and field their first team in decades, but not make finals after a challenging year.
The Ivanhoe women earned their place in the grand final after defeating Rankins Springs 36-0.
It is their third successive grand final appearance.
Despite going down 24-6 in the major semi, the Ivanhoe Hens showed what they are capable of in both attack and defence last week.
But both teams have about equal trips ahead of them, as long as the roads are open by Saturday.
Although Barellan will start favourites, the result is far from certain if Ivanhoe can field the same squad they did last week.
In the men’s, Barellan and Ivanhoe have already met twice this season, with Ivanhoe taking the regular season game 22-12, while Barellan stole the major semi in the dying moments 18-16.
Ivanhoe has many players who have been in a grand final before, making both the 2022 and 2023 deciders, while Barellan face their first big one since 2004.
Both teams will be relying on their respective captains to lead them to glory.
Barellan’s Noah Forbutt is a consistent star of the competition, top try scorer and point scorer.
Together with co-coach Adam Thomas, he has led the Rams from last in 2023 to a finals spot in 2024 and now a grand final this year.
Ivanhoe’s Ethan Harris has continued to improve since starting with the Roosters in 2019, to now being one of the most damaging ball runners in the competition. He is also a big reason for Ivanhoe’s three grand final appearances.
~ contributed by Jamie Parsons, Proten Cup.
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