WARATAH fired the first serious shot in the race for the 2021-22 Men's Premier League flag when it beat defending premier Nightcliff by 19 points in Saturday night's second semi-final.
The loss represented Nightcliff's first finals defeat since the 2020 second semi-final when St Mary's beat them by 26 points, a result the Tigers reversed in a hotly contested grand final.
But there will be no Nightcliff-St Mary's grand final threepeat this season after a rejuvenated Waratah produced a second upset win in seven days to grab a berth in the club's first Premier League grand final since 2008.
The Tigers and Saints will meet in the knockout preliminary final on Saturday night, with the winner advancing to a rematch with Tahs and the loser reduced to planning for next season.
A three-goal return from spearhead Cameron Arnold in a low scoring final and four-quarter efforts from skipper Brodie Carroll, full back Daniel O'Dwyer and Centralian star Abe Ankers were pivotal in the red and white's win.
Coach Ryan Ayers was all smiles after guiding Tahs to the grand final in his fourth season in charge.
"Getting to the grand final is huge, but obviously we're not going to be satisfied with just getting there with 22 years going by since we last won the flag.
"What we have done is to give ourselves every opportunity and that's the first step.''
Ayers said the qualifying win over St Mary's had given the players a big serve of self belief, mixed in with the knowledge they are playing footy for each other.
"We didn't want to focus too much on last week (the Saints win), but there were so many positives to come out of it, including the fact we've finally got our best players on the park in the last couple of weeks.''
Nightcliff coach Chris Baksh was left without his skipper Phillip Wills and wingman Jonathon Peris, spearhead John Butcher and forward Trent Melville for the grand final qualifier.
"We were a bit flat after the week off and couldn't get our structures right, but credit to Tahs, they were very good and worked hard,'' Baksh said.
St Mary's bounced back to form with a 64-point defeat of a disappointing Wanderers in the knockout first semi-final.
Speedster Joseph Salmon booted five goals from a mixture of opportunism and clever anticipation to be the Saints' best player against his old side, while Jack Kluske (4 goals) and spearhead Jackson Calder (3) completed the rout.
Wanderers weren't helped by the Covid enforced absence of first year coach Aaron Motlop and key players Ed Simpson and Marlon Motlop were big absentees.
A seven-goal to two points third quarter tore the Eagles apart as Salmon, Kluske, Nate Paredes and veteran ruckman Ryan Smith took control of the match.
Saints coach Anthony Vallejo said his players had "loosened up'' since the loss to Waratah the previous week.
"They went out there and enjoyed themselves and the results showed with seven goals in that third quarter and contributions from every player out on the ground,'' he said.
"Despite the scoreline Wanderers made us work for the win, where we probably only won two quarters.''
