Central District prepares for last finals campaign at AAMI Stadium after a decade of dominance at West Lakes

SEEING AAMI Stadium bathed in a sea of red, white and blue in September will forever stick in the minds Central District's Roy Laird and Paul Thomas.

IT IS one of the most envied records in SA football but it is all about to end.

Central District has won 22 of its past 27 finals matches at AAMI Stadium, including nine SANFL premierships.

The Dogs will take to the field against North Adelaide in an elimination final on Sunday in what could be the club's last finals match at the West Lakes ground before SA football moves to Adelaide Oval next season.

The stadium has been a cauldron of success for the Elizabeth-based club since 2000, when it won its first premiership.

But for more than 25 years before then it was a pit of ­disappointment.

Central played in the first SANFL match for premiership points at the ground in 1974, beating North Adelaide by 30 points.

It also played in back-to-back grand final losses in 1995-96 on the back of a lean 1990s ­finals record.

Seven-times premiership coach Roy Laird said his club was desperate to close the gates to the ground with another premiership.

"There's been some good and bad memories at that ground," Laird said.

"From a player's and coach's point of view, you only get a certain amount of chances to succeed and the successes of the past whets the appetite of the younger guys coming through."

Laird said the club's first premiership in 2000, when was an assistant to Peter ­Jonas, wiped away years of disappointment.

"The 2000 grand final was spine-tingling - the Central chants cut through the ground and it was a real ­tribal feeling.

"I'd never ­experienced anything like it," he said.

Paul Thomas says hearing the famous "You Dogs" chant at AAMI Stadium always gives him a bit of extra run in the legs.

The Central District captain and six-times premiership player is hoping fans turn out in force this Sunday when the Dogs look to make amends for last year's 88-point loss to the Roosters in the semi-final.

"The hunger is still there," Thomas says.

"Once you get out on the ground and get through the banner and then you see the guys running with you on the big screen - that's what it is about.

"I remember one year we got booed, which was something I'd never heard before. That booing was ghastly.

" ... When you lose, there's a real empty feeling. But being in the rooms after a grand final win with family and the reserves boys, nothing beats it."

If Central is to make it a year to remember, the team is going to have to so it the hard way.

For the first time since 1999 the club has finished outside the top three on the SANFL ladder.

Central District at AAMI Stadium

Nine premierships (2000, '01, '03-'05, '07- '10)

Finals record pre-2000: Won 5, lost 7

Finals record 2000-present: Won 22, lost 5

Broke 23-year drought in 1994 when they beat Norwood in the semi-final. It was the first finals win since they beat Sturt at Adelaide Oval in 1971

Lost 1995 and 1996 grand final to Port Adelaide

Won club's first premiership in 2000 by beating Woodville-West Torrens, 8.13 (61) to 5.9 (39)